10Jennifer L. Hall
Subject: FW: Ralphs and Food 4 Less in Anaheim
From: Votava, John <lohn.votava@ralphs.com>
Sent: Monday, May 10, 202110:09 AM
To: Harry Sidhu (Mayor) <HSidhu@anaheim.net>; Stephen Faessel <SFaessel@anaheim.net>; Jose Diaz
<JoDiaz@anaheim.net>; Jordan Brandman <JBrandman@anaheim.net>; Avelino Valencia <AValencia@anaheim.net>;
Trevor O'Neil <TONeil@anaheim.net>; Jose Moreno <JMoreno@anaheim.net>
Cc: Annie Mezzacappa <AMezzacappa@anaheim.net>; Amanda Edinger <AEdinger@anaheim.net>; Sarah Bartczak
<SBartczak@anaheim.net>; Claudia Perez <ClPerez@anaheim.net>; Luiz Torres <LTorres2@anaheim.net>; Justin Glover
<JGlover@anaheim.net>; Karen Romero Estrada <KRomeroEstrada@anaheim.net>; Rosales, Vanessa E
<vanessa.rosales@food4less.com>
Subject: Ralphs and Food 4 Less in Anaheim
Honorable Mayor Sidhu and Distinguished Members of the Anaheim City Council,
Ralphs Grocery Company and Food 4 Less thank you and the City Council for your leadership throughout the COVID-19
pandemic, in addition to your care and concern for grocery workers in the City of Anaheim. While we appreciate the
upcoming discussion that is anticipated tomorrow regarding Extra Pay for Grocery Workers, we have not received any
outreach from the city and I wanted to ask that you not make any policy decisions before first speaking with the
businesses that will be impacted by your decision.
Our associates are our greatest asset. Since the start of the pandemic, Ralphs, Food 4 Less and all Kroger frontline
associates have received a series of rewards in the form of one-time cash payments, temporary hourly wage increases
and store credits. I urge you to visit https://www.thekrogerco.com/life-at-kroger/ to learn what has already been
accomplished to date with regard to rewarding associates for a job well-done.
In order to protect our associates, customers and communities, the cost of doing business expanded greatly in 2020. Our
company rose to meet the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic head on by investing $2.5 billion to both reward our
associates and strengthen pensions, while also implementing dozens of safety measures for the protection of our
associates and customers.
For more than 147 years, Ralphs and Food 4 Less have been strong community partners by offering competitive wages,
world-class medical benefits and a stable pension for retirement. But sustainable operations are becoming more
difficult. You may have seen that the City of Los Angeles' mandate requiring an extra $5 an hour will create an additional
$20 million in operating costs over the 120 day span of the order. This is on top of the average total compensation of
$24 an hour for Ralphs and Food 4 Less associates in the city— one of the highest in the industry. In fact, the city's own
Economic Impact Report advised against moving ahead with the mandate. If you'd like to learn more about grocery
retail and the financial effects of Extra Pay ordinances, please visit this link.
To be clear, Ralphs, Food 4 Less and Kroger are committed to long-term wage increases. In fact, our company
announced recently that we will be investing another $350 million in associate wages this year nationwide. However, we
are opposed to mandated increases that apply to some, but not all frontline workers and not all companies that employ
frontline workers. As an example, several extra pay ordinances, including the increases in Long Beach, Seattle and other
West Coast cities don't include popular big box retailers, nor do most of the ordinances include any business outside of
grocery and drug retail that were considered essential and remained open during the pandemic.
Of the nearly 1,500 cities in California, only 25 have voted to enact an Extra Pay ordinance. And with Governor
Newsom's announcement to fully open California by June 15, the timing of such an ordinance is questionable.
While extra pay for grocery workers won't make them any safer, the vaccine will. Ralphs and Food 4 Less are offering a
$100 payment to associates who get vaccinated, as we are committed to be part of the solution and safeguard the
health and safety of our communities.
Thank you for reading and for giving this topic the care and consideration it requires. We look forward to hearing from
you regarding a meeting to discuss this matter in depth. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Kindest regards,
John
Josliii n Votciva I Director, C`orrj.)orzfe Affairs
R alphs I 1 he Kroger Co.
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