Testimonials
See our coalition in action
“The deal between Albertsons and Haggen in 2015 was really bad for workers. I saw massive layoffs, cars being repossessed, foreclosures, and loss of benefits. I am a single mother and I provide for my daughter and myself. The Kroger and Albertsons merger could possibly impact us in the most harmful way ever.”
— Lawanna A. Vons, Gardena, CA, UFCW Local 770 member
UFCW 770 members Daryll Ortega and Lawanna Archer spoke at the Federal Trade Commission’s open meeting where they shared their experiences of how their livelihoods were disrupted when Safeway and Albertsons merged back in 2015, and urged the FTC Commissioners to stop the merger.
“Personally, closing my store Safeway would be detrimental to my family because we depend on my income and my husband’s income to survive. If my store were to close and I were to lose my job, it would be a huge financial burden. In addition, with all the store closures that would take place if the FTC approved this merger, my pension would be negatively impacted. I am counting on my pension for retirement, as are the current retirees. Their financial stability is in danger too.”
Nancy Barnett
Safeway, Gunnison, Colorado
Member of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7
“I have been a grocery store worker for over 30 years and witnessed first-hand the destruction for workers, and the reduced competition that took place in our communities when Albertsons purchased Safeway less than 10 years ago. I had friends lose their jobs after years of dedicated employment. And Like thousands of grocery store workers all across this country, our bodies are worn out from all that work - especially since Covid hit us three years ago. We can’t handle another mess like what happened with that last merger.”
Naomi Oligario
Safeway, Washington
“Mergers that don’t put workers first can destroy jobs – and destabilize our lives. We need assurance that we have a job. That we have sick pay. That we will have health benefits. That we will not lose vacation. We need our community and elected leaders at every level to put the pressure on Albertson’s and Kroger to halt this merger so they will think twice about throwing all of their workers into chaos.”
Dolores Dimapilis
Worker who went through the Haggen merger in 2015
and member of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 324
“During the last few years frontline Essential Workers sacrificed our health, that of our families-- and even our lives-- to get the job done. It is because of this sacrifice that I am standing up for my fellow essential grocery workers, who are heroes, and whose livelihoods are now being threatened by this proposed $25 billion dollar Kroger-Albertsons merger. Like them, I'm scared of what this merger will mean for me as a worker, and what happens to my job when hundreds and hundreds of local grocery stores are closed.”
Andres Becerril
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 member from King Soopers in Denver, Colorado
“The 2015 Albertsons and Haggen deal left many workers scrambling around. After Haggen went bankrupt and shut down my store, I applied for work at four different stores. I wasn’t able to get a job for three months and I had to take side jobs as a seamstress and cleaning houses to make ends meet. That merger caused me a lot of anxiety. No worker should go through this kind of hardship again.”
— Christina Robinett, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 member at Vons in Ojai, California
“I oppose the Kroger-Albertsons merger because people’s livelihoods are at stake. We have thousands of workers in my state that could lose their jobs and have their pensions decimated. I personally know Safeway retirees, and some about to retire, whose only source of retirement income is this pension.”
Matt Sturbaum, Safeway, Denver, Colorado, Member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7
“I experienced first-hand the 2015 Albertsons-Safeway merger. There were store closures, good employees terminated for nonsense reasons, and people we called the ‘Terminators’ who went around stores to determine if they should stay open or close. It was a traumatic experience for workers.”
— Carol McMillian, King Soopers, Aurora, Colorado, Member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7
“This proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons for me, and the families of Orange County and across this country, it’s not some hypothetical harm, it’s real and it’s personal. Market consolidation has eroded a key foundation of our capitalist economy – competition. Without competition, families are forced to pay higher and higher prices often for less and less of the product. Over the coming weeks and months, we are going to fight like hell to stop this merger because it’s bad for workers, bad for families, and bad for our entire economy.”
Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA)
“We support the UFCW and its allies in opposing the Kroger-Albertsons merger. This proposed merger is a brazen attempt to increase corporate concentration and power at the expense of workers, consumers, farmers and small businesses.”
Washington State American Postal Workers Union