Posts Categorized: Grocery

On Oct. 24, UFCW Local 99 hosted a town hall meeting in Phoenix with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan to highlight the potential negative impact the Kroger Albertsons megamerger will have on our members and the communities they serve. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who launched an anti-trust investigation into the proposed deal in February, also spoke at the event, which was held at North High School and livestreamed on the UFCW International Facebook page.

Hundreds of UFCW Local 99 members from Fry’s (Kroger), Smith’s (Kroger), and Safeway (Albertsons) attended the town hall meeting and more than 1,000 viewers tuned in online to hear Mayes and Khan answer questions regarding the merger and its potential impact on jobs in Arizona and across the country. UFCW Local 99 member Joe Fonseca, who works at a Safeway store in Scottsdale, asked Mayes and Khan if his UFCW contract would be protected if the merger went through.

“I think the answer is we don’t know. And I do not like that we don’t know,” said Mayes.

UFCW Local 99 President Jim McLaughlin served as the emcee at the town hall meeting and highlighted the unprecedented nature of the proposed $24.6 billion megamerger in his opening remarks.

“Arizona grocery workers are no strangers to mergers,” said McLaughlin. “Many of our longest-tenured members… began their careers at local chains like Lucky’s, Alpha Beta, ABCO, Smitty’s and Smith’s, all of which have since merged with or been acquired by a larger parent company. Through each merger and acquisition, UFCW Local 99 –through all its iterations– has been there every step of the way to protect our members and their livelihoods.”

“And while we are continuing our work with our International Union to oppose this merger, I think it’s fair to say that the Kroger Albertsons megamerger is truly unprecedented in its size, scope and potential impact on Arizona families,” McLaughlin added.

You can watch the town hall meeting in its entirety here.

The UFCW recently responded to Kroger and Albertsons’ plan to divest 413 grocery stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers as part of its proposed merger deal.

UFCW International President Marc Perrone issued the following statement:

With respect to the Kroger Albertsons merger, and the latest announcement of the proposed purchase of 413 Kroger and Albertsons stores by C&S Wholesale Grocers, the UFCW’s highest priority will always be to defend and protect our hard-working union members.

Our team of experts will be analyzing every aspect of this proposed deal and will assess the impact, positive or negative, that it may have on our UFCW members, the customers we serve, and the communities we call home.

As we have made clear since the day the proposed Kroger Albertsons merger was announced, our focus is, and will always be, on a stable and long-term solution that protects our members’ wages, benefits, and pensions.

Any deal must be in their best interest, as it is our members – and all Kroger and Albertsons workers – who perform the invaluable job of helping to feed and serve our nation every single day. These companies are successful because it is our members who make them a success, and no proposed merger or divestiture of stores should endanger or threaten the vital role they play.

While we review this latest merger development fairly and objectively, the UFCW and all our Locals remain absolutely united to using every tool we have to protect our union members’ livelihoods and their families’ future health and well-being.

As we have always said, we seek a transparent relationship with the companies throughout this process and continue to remain open to any dialogue or document review with either Kroger or C&S Wholesale Grocers.