The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, made up of 1.3 million workers in the U.S. and Canada, recently voted unanimously to oppose the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons. The UFCW is the largest union of essential grocery workers in the country as well as the largest private-sector union, according to the union.
The proposed merger was first announced in 2022 and has faced opposition from many food industry leaders and legal entities. Both companies hope the process will be completed by 2024.
UFCW international president Marc Perrone said in a statement, “For months, the UFCW has called for transparency, engaged independent experts, and assessed the publicly available information on this proposed merger to determine the widespread impact it will have on our members and the communities they serve.
“At our 9th Regular Convention, hundreds of UFCW delegates representing our entire union from around the country came together to unanimously declare: mergers pose a serious threat to the livelihoods of our members and we must act to confront them.
“Given the lack of transparency, and the impact a merger between two of the largest supermarket companies could have on essential workers–and the communities and customers they serve–the UFCW stands united in its opposition to the proposed Kroger and Albertsons merger.”
In a recent opinion piece for The Cincinnati Enquirer co-authored by Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran and Kroger GEO Rodney McMillen, they said that no frontline workers will be laid off because of the merger.
Related: Kroger, Albertsons CEOs Pen Opinion Piece on Merger; Combined Kroger-Albertsons Could Change How Americans Shop