Union representatives, grocery workers, and local residents gathered on the steps of Denver’s City and County Building, holding picket signs at a “Stop the Merger” rally on September 30th. The event coincided with the start of the trial between the state of Colorado and grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, who are seeking to merge. Among the local labor groups in attendance was the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, with Tyler Garrett, the union’s director of government relations, representing members from Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
“This merger would harm our family farmers and ranchers by taking away any power they had to negotiate prices,” Garrett said. “Right now, farmers and ranchers only get approximately $0.14 to $0.30 of the dollar that consumers spend on groceries. Do you know who gets the rest of that money? The big corporations like Kroger and Albertsons, and they don’t pass that on to consumers or to their workers.”
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has asserted that the merger of the two grocery giants would result in and increase in food prices, potential worker exploitation, food deserts and negative effects on suppliers. Rickee Nelson, a Kroger employee who lives in Colorado Springs, echoes Weiser’s concerns.
“[Kroger and Albertsons are] showing record-breaking profits, but we don’t see that,” Nelson said. “We as the workers, we don’t get to reap the benefits of our hard work and that hurts.”
Attorneys representing Kroger and Albertsons argue that their proposed merger would help prevent store closures, positioning the combined company to better compete with large retailers such as Walmart and Costco. A Kroger spokesperson also stated that the merger is pro-union and that the company is committed to honoring existing collective bargaining agreements.
“As union membership continues to decline nationwide, especially in the grocery industry, Kroger added more than 100,000 good-paying union jobs since 2012 and invested $2.4 billion to grow associate wages and industry-leading, comprehensive benefits since 2018,” the statement said.
“Best case scenario, both companies continue to run independently of each other and compete with each other, keep stores open, keep opening new stores in food desert areas,” said Nelson.
If the state wins its case, the merger between Kroger and Albertsons would be terminated, and each company would face a $1 million fine for entering into an anti-competitive agreement. Kroger, which operates 148 King Soopers and City Market stores, is the largest grocery chain in Colorado, while Albertsons, with 105 Safeway and Albertsons stores, is the state’s third-largest grocer.
The trial in Denver District Court begins shortly after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) made its closing arguments in a separate case in Portland, Oregon, where the FTC is seeking a preliminary injunction to block the merger while its complaint goes before an administrative law judge. Several states, including Arizona, California, and Oregon, have joined the FTC’s lawsuit, with Washington state filing its own separate case. A temporary halt to the merger was ordered in July while the Colorado trial is argued. In response to concerns about a potential monopoly, Kroger and Albertsons agreed to sell 579 stores nationwide, including 91 stores in Colorado, to C&S Wholesale Grocers. The divestiture plan also includes two distribution centers and a dairy farm. The Colorado trial is expected to last about three weeks, though it remains uncertain whether the state or federal case will be resolved first.
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