We Continue Our Fight Against the Kroger/Albertsons Merger as the FTC Trial Enters Final Week, More Trials to Follow

UFCW 324 Members' Rally Was Covered on ABC 7 in LA September 13, 2024

Dear Grocery Store Members,

Since the trial of the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit to stop the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons began on August 26, workers have been at the courthouse, talking to the media, and talking to customers about how damaging this would be for workers, customers, and our communities. We've been doing this work for nearly two years and we'll continue to do it until we finally put a stop to this disastrous merger.

The federal court case is expected to conclude on Tuesday, September 17, and the judge could make a decision on whether or not to approve the FTC's request for what is called a "preliminary injunction" as early as the first week of October. If the injunction is granted, the merger would be put on hold until after a full court case on the merits of the merger is done.

Meanwhile, on Monday, September 16, the Washington State Attorney General's lawsuit to block the merger will begin its trial in Seattle. The Colorado Attorney General's lawsuit to block the merger is scheduled to start on September 30.

The outspoken work of grocery store members and our community partners, as well as many enforcement agencies like the FTC and Attorneys General, have all been central to the successful efforts so far to stop the proposed mega-merger of Kroger and Albertsons.
 

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Kroger's Q2 Earnings Call

Kroger held its 2nd quarter earnings call on Thursday, September 12, and it showed what we've been saying all along: Kroger is doing just fine, and doesn't need this merger to compete. Same store sales were up 1.2% (higher than expected) and the company pointed to higher online sales and increased loyalty households as drivers of stronger sales and growing private label brands as a driver of increased profitability. Notably, these areas—ecommerce capacity, customer loyalty and private label manufacturing—are ones that C&S Wholesale Grocery (the proposed buyer of 579 divested stores if a merger were allowed) lacks, underscoring concerns that C&S would not be able to operate those stores in a sustainable way.

Kroger also discussed strong profits in the pharmacy sector and acknowledged pharmacies as a leading cause of loyalty. We've pointed out time and time again that C&S has little to no experience managing pharmacies that are a lifeline to our communities.

Also of note, company officials claimed that shrink (the loss from theft or other causes) has been improving, though is still elevated, and that OSHA incident rates are currently at record lows. Members, who actually work in the stores, paint a very different picture of understaffed stores with high rates of shoplifting rates and significant health and safety risks.
 

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In the News

UFCW Locals 7, 324, 400, 770, 1564, and 3000 have held press conferences, store actions, webinars and interviews to raise our concerns to the public through more than a thousand media stories from coast to coast since the very first day Kroger and Albertsons announced their proposed plan to merge. Time and again grocery store workers, sharing their experiences, have proven to be a critical part of those news stories.

Most recently, several stories around the FTC trial have been noteworthy:
 

• Stop the Merger Rally of UFCW 324 highlighted on ABC 7 in California
• NPR - All Things Considered - Shoppers and workers that stand to be affected by a Kroger-Albertsons merger weigh in
• New York Times: A Trial Asks: If Grocery Rivals Merge, Do Workers Suffer? - Front page of the Business section
• Reuters: Surging grocery prices in focus as US tries to stop Kroger deal
• AP: Kroger and Albertsons defend merger plan in federal court against US regulators' objections
• Cincinnati Enquirer: Deleted texts, grocery prices: CEOs testify in Kroger-Albertsons merger case

You can find more of the most recent news coverage on the Stop the Merger website news page >>

Protecting the jobs and collective bargaining strength of union workers and keeping choice and price competition for our customers are key reasons for our long-standing and loud opposition to the proposed merger. We recently launched a Stop the Merger customer petition to continue to build public support that has already garnered thousands of signatures! Please help spread the word about our petition by sharing www.nogrocerymerger.com/petition.

We hear from customers all over the country that Kroger and Albertsons' proposed mega-merger threatens our communities with store closures, food and pharmacy deserts, thousands of laid-off unionized grocery store workers, and higher prices.

You can take action by encouraging your co-workers, family members, fellow shoppers, friends, and others in the community to sign the petition to show Kroger and Albertson that they are opposed to this disastrous proposal.

Sign and share the petition >>

In solidarity,
The Stop the Merger Coalition

Telephone Town Hall Call: Stop the Mega-Merger Update

On Monday, September 9 please join us at 5:30PM for a live telephone town hall on the topic of Kroger and Albertsons’ proposed mega merger and our ongoing efforts to stop it.

Despite what the companies are saying, this proposed merger threatens lay-offs, store closures, and higher prices as well as undercuts our strength in collective bargaining negotiations.

During the call, we will take members’ questions live on the topic of the proposed merger, discuss the ongoing federal court trial taking place in Portland regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit to block it, as well as prepare for a rally in Seattle the first day of the trail by our Attorney General to block the merger on September 16.

We will plan to call you at 5:30PM on Monday, just answer the phone and you will join us.

If, for some reason you don’t receive a call by 5:35pm, or get disconnected during the call, you can join us by dialing directly: 888-652-0384 And enter meeting ID 8143.

Grocery East Contracts Ratified!

This week we ratified 10 contracts by an overwhelming majority! 

It was a great week of voting in Lewiston, Clarkston, Walla Walla, Moses Lake, and Ephrata and sharing our new contract that won:

• Strongest journey wage increases in any past Grocery Store negotiation! We increased our Journeyperson wages by $4.00/hr or more over the term of the contract. 

• Won an “All Purpose Clerk” scale with historic pay raises for many departments —some will see an over 25% wage increase over the term of the contract. 

• More than quadrupling our wage escalators —that means strong wage increases throughout the pay scale when minimum wage goes up and when workers are moving through the apprentice rates.  

• Healthcare benefit improvements with NO increases to healthcare premiums or deductibles. Healthcare eligibility will now be based on all compensable hours.  

• Benefits Holiday for healthcare premiums – For Safeway/Albertsons the holiday months are: June, July, August, and September. For Kroger the holiday months of: May, June, July, and August. 

• Major improvements to our vacation banks that will ensure that we get vacation based off of hours worked.  

• Automatic pension funding increases that go up every time wages increase.  

• Dedicated money to fund training and workforce development to ensure that we get the training we need to do our jobs and prepare for the future of the industry.  

• Stronger safety language to address top issues we face in our stores.  

This is our first union negotiations for these contracts since we became UFCW 3000 and our combined strength has helped us win record wage increases and major contract improvements. In the midst of a proposed grocery mega-merger, we’ve sent a clear message —We have power in our communities, we have a voice in our workplace, we have a strong new contract that will be the backbone for our future, and we are going to continue to fight for more! 

If you have any questions about our new contract please reach out to your Union Representative. 

PCC Meet our new Labor-Management Committee!

Emily Weisenburger, PCC Issaquah; Kelly Campbell, PCC View Ridge; Chloe Jett, PCC Bellevue; Scott Norman, PCC West Seattle; Scott Shiflett, PCC Redmond; Scott Jue, PCC Central District (Alternate); Kerry Hudson, PCC Burien (Alternate)

“The LMC will be able to make recommendations to the PCC Board of Trustees on various issues including staffing, scheduling, workflow and finances. We will have a voice in ensuring that the co-op thrives for workers and customers. I’m happy and honored to serve on this new committee. Open to hearing your ideas!” -- Scott Shiflett, PCC Redmond

After winning historic language during contract negotiations for a voice in the workplace, we, the PCC workers, democratically nominated 10 candidates for our Labor Management Committee (LMC). Those nominated were presented to the PCC Governance Board and Membership Committee for final selection.

Next steps: The LMC will write out their charter. The LMC charter will be developed by its members for review and approval by the Board of Trustees. The LMC will then meet 4 times a year and report deliberations to us, the PCC workers.

Ellensburg Fred Meyer Bargaining Update

On a nice sunny day in Ellensburg our Union Bargaining Team met with representatives from Kroger and put forth our initial proposals. The proposals we delivered are building on the strength of our union, from Spokane to Seattle. With the power of us workers inside the store, and our collective power as a union that helped us reach 39 TA’s (Tentative Agreements) with the employer! Although we are working through non-economic proposals at the moment, to achieve that many TA’s in a first contract is a great foundation for a strong contract.

Some of the TA’s include: Discipline language that prevents you from being disciplined without just cause. An article that protects workers from discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and more. Also we won great leave of absence language with protections on approved leave for up to 9 months. There are many more TA’s we achieved and are ready to continue bargaining to ensure we get a contract we can be proud of.

We have our next bargaining date set for July 22 and we are hoping to continue grabbing wins as we progress through the process. Please reach out to your union rep Tammerly Evans at 360-409-0586 or talk to a bargaining team member to get more information.