In conclusion
In California, labor unions are attempting once more to control self-checkout lanes. Businesses say that this year’s bill will raise expenses and irritate consumers, although it waters down a version that expired last session.
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You still have to make a stop at the grocery on your way home after a long day at work.
You head straight for the self-checkout station, hoping for a smooth and speedy transaction to save yourself extra social interaction.
As you anxiously attempt to flag down a clerk, the machine’s feminine voice taunts you with, “Please wait, help is on the way.”
California Democrats are attempting once more to establish rules that they claim will increase the effectiveness of self-service stations in the state’s large box, medicine, and grocery shops after a failed attempt last year, supported by a union, to rigorously control self-checkout machines.
Los Angeles Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, the chair of the Senate committee on labor and public employment, introduced Senate Bill 442, which would mandate that establishments have a minimum of one committed employee on hand to assist self-service consumers. Additionally, stores would have to limit the kinds and quantities of items that customers could bring via self-checkout and maintain at least one traditional staffed checkout lane at all times.
As Smallwood-Cuevas stated on the Senate floor earlier this summer, prior to the bill passing that chamber 26-10, “This is about supporting our workforce, to make sure that they’re safe, but mostly to make sure that they’re providing the level of service that customers expect and deserve.”
However, the state’s business community continues to resist the initiative, particularly its grocers. Instead, they claim that new regulations will raise prices because businesses will have to pay more for labor, which they will then pass on to customers, without providing specific research or supporting data.
When California Grocers Association lobbyist Daniel Conway spoke before the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee in June, he said, “This seems like a clear example of why Californians pay the highest prices for groceries, regardless of what checkout line they go through.”
Given her strong ties to the two powerful unions cosponsoring the legislation—the United Food and Commercial Workers and the California Labor Federation—it is not unexpected that Smallwood-Cuevas, a former labor organizer herself, is carrying such a bill. According to the Digital Democracy database, she votes their way over 95% of the time, and since 2021, the groups have contributed close to $30,000 to her campaign.
Stores would be required to post signs restricting customers to 15 items or less in the self-checkout lanes, as well as appoint one employee whose sole responsibility would be to keep an eye on the stands. Notably, the law makes it clear that retailers would not face consequences for not adhering to the item limit—a clause that industry associations claim is absurd. Signs, according to the provision’s supporters, will boost self-policing and peer pressure in the absence of rigorous enforcement.
More items banned from self-checkout
Additionally, Smallwood-Cuevas’ new bill would extend the ban to include any products that require identification to purchase, like tobacco products, and anything that has anti-theft security devices that an employee must remove. This is in addition to a 2011 law that prohibited the sale of alcohol at self-checkout stations, which was also supported by the union.
In order to avoid a $1,000 fine per infraction per day, stores that wish to install new self-service checkout stations must give written notice to their employees and their unions at least 60 days in advance.
The majority of Democrats have expressed support for Smallwood-Cuevas’ measure, describing it as a much-needed solution to the self-checkout issue.
Conway’s claim that self-checkout is a convenient and efficient option for customers was mocked by San Jose Democrat Assemblymember Ash Kalra, who claimed that because retailers have cut back on cashiers, customers are frequently compelled to use them.
During the hearing in late June, Kalra told Conway, “I’m not sure if I can disagree with more points that were just made by our friends with the grocers.” If you believe these self-checkouts offer a better shopping experience than going to the stores, you must be avoiding them.
Find out more about the lawmakers this story mentions.
Grove, Shannon
State Senate, District 12 (Bakersfield), Republican
Allen, Benjamin
State Senate, District 24 (El Segundo), Democrat
Smallwood-Cuevas, Lola
State Senate, District 28 (Los Angeles), Democrat
Seyarto, Kelly
Republican, Murrieta, District 32, State Senate
Kalra Ash
Democrat, San Jose’s District 25 in the State Assembly
The bill’s recently added clause, which requires retailers to assign at least one person for every three self-checkout machines, has alarmed opponents since it would encourage local governments to enact their own stricter regulations, similar to what the city of Long Beach recently did.
Businesses caution that operating stores with many locations would be challenging due to the hodgepodge of legislation, burdening both owners and customers.
According to Ryan Allain, a lobbyist for the California Retailers Association, which is now against the bill, only a unified, statewide strategy can offer the consistency that both employers and employees need to prosper.
Lawmakers criticized the plan for going beyond businesses’ rights to govern themselves and raising operating costs that would eventually be passed on to the consumer, despite Republicans acknowledging that they also hate the self-checkout process.
Sen. Shannon Grove, a Republican from Bakersfield, said that after pledging to prioritize affordability, the Legislature should not stop companies from implementing cost-cutting automation.
On the Senate floor in June, Murrieta Republican Senator Kelly Seyarto said, “I understand that it’s a labor thing.” I want as many people to work as I can, but I also want to be able to buy groceries.
El Segundo Democrat Sen. Ben Allen was one of few Democrats who voted in favor of the bill while having some reservations about the state’s preemption of local regulations.
In June, he stated, “I know you’re going to be working with the grocers on that challenge.”
Before the bill is put to a vote on the floor, it must pass the Assembly Appropriations Committee when members return from their summer break on August 18.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s spokesman, Tara Gallegos, declined to comment on SB 442, stating that the governor’s office normally doesn’t comment on legislation that is still pending.
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