A new U.S. District judge has been assigned to the California Grocers Association (CGA) lawsuit against the City of Long Beach over mandated extra pay for grocery store workers.
The original judge, Dolly Gee, voluntarily recused herself from the Central District of California court case on Feb. 10.
“Before she was a judge, Judge Gee worked for a law firm that represented United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 324 so when UFCW intervened with a motion in our case against the city of Long Beach, she realized the connection was there and appropriately recused herself,” said Ron Fong, president and CEO of the California Grocers Association.
Judge Otis Wright, who was nominated to the federal bench by former President George W. Bush in 2007, has been reassigned California Grocers Association v. City of Long Beach, which alleges violations of the U.S. Constitution.
As previously reported in the Southern California Record, the Premium Pay for Grocery Workers Ordinance requires Long Beach grocery stores, such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Food 4 Less and Ralph’s, to pay an additional $4 an hour arguably because workers face greater exposure to COVID-19 infection on the job.
“Everybody knows that this is union-sponsored legislation and that the union is using these local jurisdictions to fight for what they should be bargaining with their union grocery stores through the collective bargaining process,” Fong told the Southern California Record. “That's our first argument is that you've got a fair process to negotiate through your collective bargaining agreement.”
The recusal order states, “Judge Gee is personally familiar with the President of UFCW Local 324 and previously has been co-counsel with Local 324's law firm.”
The president of UFCW Local 324 is Andrea Zinder, according to the UFCW324 website.
“They didn’t do so well trying to hide that this legislation is all union-backed,” Fong said. “They are finally coming out and they're going to try to influence legally their arguments on why people should be paid more money.”
After Ralph’s and Food 4 Less announced it was closing 25% of its Long Beach grocery stores in response to the ordinance enactment, the UFCW held a protest rally in front of the Food 4 Less in Long Beach, which is scheduled to close in April.