The Teamsters have joined the opposition to the merger because it will hike prices and hurt workers’ bargaining power. A Kroger-Albertsons merger would be the largest in the history of the grocery industry.

Kroger is pioneering a creepy practice called “surveillance pricing.” The company is partnering with Microsoft on facial recognition technology to identify individual shoppers and hike prices based on personal data such as your credit history, shopping history, and maybe even your income.

Grocery giants already use surge pricing to scam consumers. “If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream,” said one grocery industry analyst.

That’s what’s at stake in the proposed mega-merger. Kroger wants to be the only game in town so it can raise prices and crush union workers without worrying about the competition.

Grocery Teamsters are fighting back. 

In Indiana’s Local 135, Kroger Teamsters won a kickass contract by organizing across 5 languages, packing bargaining, and mounting a bold work-to-rule action. Read about it in Labor Notes. 

Last week, nonunion Kroger drivers in Georgia voted unanimously to join the Teamsters. In Michigan, Kroger fulfillment drivers voted to unionize with the Teamsters, becoming the first-ever Kroger fulfillment center to go union.

Albertsons Teamsters in Local 771 won record wage increases and benefit improvements by building member involvement in their contract campaign.

In Southern California, grocery contracts covering roughly 8,000 Teamsters at Kroger, Albertsons, and Stater Brothers will expire in September of next year. Members are networking to build a bottom-up contract campaign and win industry-wide power.

Grocery Teamsters will meet at the TDU Convention in Chicago this fall to share strategies for building union power in the industry. Interested? Click here to be in touch with an organizer.