Key points:
S.237, filed by state Sen. Paul Feeney, D-Foxborough, would limit grocery stores to eight self-service checkout stations.
It would also require stores with self-checkout stations to have a minimum of one manual checkout station operating for every two self-checkout stations.
Employees would not be allowed to manage more than two self-checkouts at one time.
At a grocery store in Dorchester, a “worst case scenario” took place at the self-checkout machines.
“A member was intervening when a light was flashing and the customer ended up trying to steal and they ended up assaulting our member,” Jack Kenslea, the political director at United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1445, said at a hearing at the Massachusetts State House on Oct. 20. “She was on the ground for a few minutes before anyone even noticed.”