The Ruling is in: Merger Terminated!

To the hard-working Local 881 members at Jewel-Osco, Kroger, and Mariano’s:

As you know, a historic decision was made by a federal judge in Oregon, putting an end to a two-year long battle against one of the biggest corporate mergers the grocery industry has ever seen.

Your Union has been outspoken about the dangers of this merger from the beginning. We have insisted that a merger of this magnitude would threaten the livelihoods of the majority of our members. We enlisted the help of each and every lawmaker within our sphere of influence to stand up and speak out against this merger.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul was one of many that answered our call. Raoul committed that he would fight for us! Raoul, the FTC, and a bipartisan coalition of eight other attorneys general filed a lawsuit in February challenging the merger, arguing it would present a significant risk of reduced competition and higher food prices nationwide.

It’s estimated that the two companies spent close to $1 billion to push the merger through. (Imagine, how that could have been better spent? Investing in workers? Keeping prices low? Improving stores? Just to name a few!) And now that it’s over, the two companies are rushing to the press to point the blame at each other, while at the same time going to extremes to reassure investors of new strategies and boasting of strong earning potential. The companies have the right to appeal, but according to anti-trust experts, winning won’t be easy.

It is no surprise that this disastrous $25-billion Kroger-Albertsons merger idea was just another confirmation of what we see time and time again at the bargaining table: these companies only care about their bottom lines.

We are extremely pleased to see that the rightful concerns of workers, the public, lawmakers, economists, and the Federal Trade Commission, were heard loud and clear by the courts and addressed decisively.

Now, we turn our attention to the coming year and upcoming negotiations. Local 881 remains committed to protecting and improving your livelihoods! We will continue to speak out against corporate greed and harmful policies that hurt our members. We will continue to stand up and fight threats to our members, families, and communities!

Thank you for your solidarity, and let’s stick together as we move towards bargaining in 2025!

The Ruling is in: Merger Terminated!

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