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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2021 0728 CCSA REG ITEM 05A SUPPLEMENTAL MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA REPORT TO: Honorable City Council FROM: Kambiz Borhani, Finance Director Brian Chong, Assistant to the City Manager DATE: 07/28/2021 Special Meeting SUBJECT: Provide Preliminary Direction to Staff Regarding Expenditure of Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED Subsequent to the preparation of the staff report, the attached correspondence was received. Attachment 1: Correspondence from United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770 dated July 27, 2021 Attachment 2: Correspondence from Central Coast Labor Council dated July 28, 2021 Item: 5.A. SUPPLEMENTAL 1 770 UFCW LOCAL 770 P.O. BOX 770 Hollywood, CA 90078 (213) 487-7070 or/o (800) UFCW 770 8:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m. Monday -Friday LOS ANGELES MAIN OFFICE 630 Shatto Place Los Angeles, CA 90005 BRANCH OFFICES Arroyo Grande Bakersfield Camarillo Harbor City Huntington Park Santa Barbara Santa Clarita July 27, 2021 Moorpark City Council 799 Moorpark Avenue Moorpark, CA 93021 RE: Item SA: American Recovery Plan Act Allocation Dear Mayor Parvin and Fellow City Councilmembers: On behalf of the over 30,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770, we urge the Moorpark City Council to consider a premium pay grant program for grocery and drug retail workers in conformance with the American Recovery Plan (ARP) Act's recommendations. The ARP Act and subsequent guidance specially outlines six primary uses for these funds, one of which includes premium pay for essential workers. While neither Congress nor guidance stipulates that the government must spend money on any specific allowance, premium pay accounts for 17% of the allowable categories of use. This follows the recent precedent of other cities throughout the region including Oxnard and Calabasas. As you are aware, as essential workers, grocery and drug retail wo~kers have been serving Moorpark since the beginning of the pandemic, risking their and their families' health to ensure community continuity during this once-in-a-century pandemic. Providing hazard pay for these workers acknowledges the unique sacrifices they have made over the past 15 months, and ones they continue to make today. In our membership alone, over 6,000 workers have contracted Covid 19. Fifteen members have passed away. Workers had to show up to stores, since food and drug retail were the only private sector businesses to remain open during the entirety of the pandemic, due to their vital role in the community. Essential workers are risking their health at a greater percentage than the average Californian, with a 55% higher likelihood of testing positive for COVID simply because of where they work. In addition to risking their own health, the health of their family was also put in danger, with over 51 % of workers living with someone over the age of 65 or with a minor. Premium pay honors the sacrifices of these essential workers as they continue to face a new surge of infections. While this payment will not fully reimburse workers for the risks to health and safety they have faced, it does acknowledge their sacrifice and integral role in this community. These dollars are spent locally to help both workers and the community recover from a devastating year. We recommend a one time payment to be distributed to workers through the employer to avoid unneeded bureaucratic city costs. We also recommend no distinction between part-time and full-time employees in the same way Oxnard categorized them. Whether an employee worked 20 hours or 40 hours per week over the same several-month period should not negate a hazard payout, since the virus made no such distinction. Printed in-house ATTACHMENT 1 2 Mayor Parvin and fellow City Councilmembers July 27, 2021 Page 2 of 2 We believe all retail food and drug workers deserve the same premium pay grant amount regardless of the hours worked. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. Sincerely, Printed in-house 3 CENTRAL COAST LABOR COUNCIL VENTURA ▪ SANTA BARBARA ▪ SANTA MARIA ▪ SAN LUIS OBISPO Affiliated with AFL-CIO and California Labor Federation 816 Camarillo Springs Rd. Ste. N Camarillo, CA 93012 (805) 987-0101 info@centralcoastlabor.org CHRIS MAHON KASSI HARRIS WILLIAM BAKER YESENIA DECASAUS President Secretary-Treasurer Vice President Vice President July 28, 2021 Moorpark City Council 799 Moorpark Avenue Moorpark, CA 93021 RE: Item 5A: American Recovery Plan Act Allocation Dear Mayor Parvin and Fellow City Councilmembers: On behalf of the Central Coast Labor Council, which represents approximately 106,000 union members and their families, I urge Moorpark city council to consider a premium pay grant program for grocery and drug retail workers in accordance with the American Recovery Plan (ARP) Act’s recommendations. The ARP Act stipulated 6 uses for these funds, which includes premium pay for essential workers. Grocery and drug retail workers have been on the front line of this pandemic for the last 15 months. While businesses across the country were forced to shut down, grocery and drug retail workers helped keep our community afloat by continuing to go to work every day, putting their health and safety on the line. Providing hazard pay for these workers recognizes the sacrifices they made as well as the challenges they continue to face during a once in a century pandemic. Premium pay honors the sacrifices that these workers have made. They still face significant risk due to variants and surges of infection rates and continue to be an indispensable part of our community. These funds, which would go to local workers, will in turn help our community and economy recover. I ask you to consider a one-time payment to be distributed through local employers. This would avoid any unnecessary city costs. I also ask you to consider making no distinction between part-time and full-time workers. Everybody who worked at these stores were at risk. Thank you for your consideration, Jeremy Goldberg Executive Director ATTACHMENT 2 4