The Push for Common Sense Self-Checkout Regulations at the Rhode Island Statehouse.

Over the past several weeks we’ve been attending political functions and lobbying at the Statehouse in favor of common sense self-checkout regulations. As many of our members already know, self-checkout was supposed to be convenient, however it has led to an increase of theft, overburdened workers, and more stressful and unsafe interactions. Workers in grocery stores are left to monitor the entire area by themselves. This has led to a decline in jobs and hours thus reducing stable employment. Senate Bill 2342/House Bill 7290 would limit the number of self-checkout registers in a grocery store as well as establish a minimum ratio of employee operated registers to self-checkout registers. We’ve been working with The Rhode Island AFL-CIO and state lawmakers to build support for our bill and yesterday we were present as the senate committee voted to recommend it’s passage. We will be continuing our full court press until this bill is passed and are asking everyone to contact their state representative and tell them you support the common sense self-checkout regulations in HB 7290.