We’re pleased that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general across the country are expected to join forces next week in a lawsuit to block the planned merger of supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons.
Under a plan announced in 2022, Kroger would buy Albertsons for $24.6 billion. The combined companies would employ more than 700,000 people in nearly 5,000 stores nationwide.
In Chicago, Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain, operates Mariano’s and Food 4 Less stores, while Albertsons, the country’s second-largest grocery chain, owns Jewel.
We’re not saying that the merger should be blocked. But the lawsuit could be a good way to shine enough light on the deal to determine whether that’s the case — while requiring Kroger and Albertsons to show why this isn’t a bad deal for consumers and workers. Transparency is especially important since shoppers are paying more for groceries these days: Food prices rose 5.8% in 2023.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office said it has no comment on the suit, nor would it confirm if the agency is a party in the legal action.
Kroger and Albertsons officials have said the super-merger would help them better insulate consumers from rising food prices. They also said the expanded company would have the cash to keep workers’ salaries competitive as well.
That’s all to the good, but it would be wrong to merely take the companies at their word on this and allow the deal to happen without more due diligence, especially when big mergers sooner or later tend to bring about the opposite results.
And the worst-case opposite result with this deal would see the grocery competitors, once combined, forming a monopoly with the nationwide power to suppress wages and raise grocery prices.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International, which represents 350,000 wage-earners at Kroger and Albertsons, spoke out against the merger in 2023.
“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,” the union said.
It’s a big, complex deal. And the public deserves to know more about its potential impact. That the federal government and states’ legal consumer protection chiefs want to weigh in is a good sign to us.
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