Irvine city council will consider boosting the pay of grocery store workers during the COVID-19 pandemic at a Feb. 9 meeting. If approved, the ordinance would increase employee pay by an extra $4 an hour at any large franchise company—not including managers, or supervisors—for 120 days. The ordinance would go into effect immediately. “I am very supportive of our grocery store workers who have been on the front line and who’ve been greatly exposed,” Irvine Councilmember Tammy Kim told The Epoch Times. “The grocery store workers that we have here are going through a lot. They are some of our…poorest residents.” Grocery store employees are being singled out for the pay increase because they have been tasked with working the frontlines as essential workers during the ongoing pandemic, when the job normally doesn’t call for such a sacrifice, Kim said. “When you become a nurse, when you become a firefighter, when you become a …