UFCW Local 7 Applauds Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser For Leading A Multi-State Investigation Into Proposed Kroger-Albertsons’ Mega Merger

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 8, 2022

Contact: Marcela Salazar | misalazar@ufcw7.com | 720-434-7550

Weiser also filed a brief to block Albertsons from paying its shareholders a $4 billion dividend before regulators review the merger, supporting a motion for preliminary injunction filed by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson

DENVER – Today, United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 issued the following statement in regard to Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s announcement regarding the proposed $25 billion merger between King Soopers’ parent company and Albertsons, which operates Safeway:

“UFCW Local 7 applauds the efforts by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser to investigate the proposed mega merger of Kroger and Albertsons, the country’s two largest standalone grocery store chains. UFCW Local 7 has over 17,000 grocery employees at these two grocers in Colorado and Wyoming who will be negatively impacted by this proposed merger with store closings, massive job and benefit loss, as well as higher prices for consumers due to lack of competition.  

“We thank Attorney General Weiser for the well written brief filed on behalf of the State of Colorado which supports the preliminary injunction filed by the Washington State Attorney General to block Albertsons from paying its shareholders a $4 billion dividend before regulators review the merger. This planned special dividend to mega rich shareholders will weaken Albertsons’ financial position, saddle the company with debt, weakens Albertsons’ ability to ensure pensions are paid to workers and retirees, and ultimately hurts the stores our members work at, endangering hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the country.     

“Attorney General Phil Weiser, a strong ally to Colorado’s working families, is charged with enforcing state anti-trust law and we are delighted to see Colorado take the lead in this vital investigation to study the negative impact of this mega merger on both consumers and workers alike. Both the dividend and the merger must be stopped.”

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 Local 7, the largest private Union in Colorado and representing Wyoming, is affiliated with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union which represents over 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada, and is one of the largest private-sector Unions in North America. UFCW members work in a wide range of industries, including retail food, food processing, agriculture, retail sales, and health care.