'Corporate greed at its absolute worst' on display as FTC challenges Kroger merger

As grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons faced the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in a federal court Monday, economic justice advocates said Americans should be wary of the corporate media's reporting on the FTC's lawsuit, which aims to block the companies' proposed $24.6 billion merger.

"Get ready for more takes like these from corporate media," said the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP), posting on social media a clip from CNBC in which anchor Joe Kernen echoed Kroger and Albertsons' claims that the merger would help them compete with big box stores like Walmart, lower prices for consumers, and benefit workers.

"With a merger this blatantly harmful to consumers, workers, and countless local communities, Wall Street cheerleaders can't help but rely on misleading arguments," said AELP.

The trial, kicking off in a U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon, centers on a claim by the FTC along with eight states and the District of Colombia that the merger would reduce industry competition—creating "a straight-up monopoly" in small communities like Gunnison, Colorado where 6,000 residents "would have to drive 65 miles to reach a non-Kroger supermarket," according to AELP.

FTC Chair Lina Khan is also opposing the merger because it would weaken unionized workers' bargaining power, particularly in parts of the country where dozens of Kroger and Albertsons stores are located near each other.

With 115 of 159 Albertsons stores located within two miles of a Kroger in Los Angeles County and Orange County, California, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) has warned that hundreds of unionized workers could see their stores close if the merger is finalized.

As the trial began Monday, The New York Times published an interview with an employee of an Albertsons subsidiary in Woodland Hills, California. Leonard De Monte was represented by the UFCW in 2015 when the grocery store he was working at was sold as part of Albertsons' merger with the store's parent company—a deal that was called "an unmitigated disaster" for workers by AELP senior legal counsel Lee Hepner.

De Monte found another job at the Albertsons subsidiary, but was demoted to minimum wage. Now nine years later, after working his way up to a $27-per-hour union wage, the store De Monte works at is once again at risk of being sold if the merger goes through, and he fears being demoted to minimum wage again and losing his benefits.

"I have great health benefits because I've been with the company so long," he told the Times. "If I lose my health benefits, I would have to pay out of pocket."

Despite the stores' claim that they need to compete with Walmart and Amazon, AELP pointed out in March that Kroger and Albertsons acknowledge one another as their top competition. Without the two stores competing, said the group, "grocery workers will lose bargaining power, both because individually they won't have a competing employer to go work for, and because unions will lose leverage during contract negotiations. As a result, workers will potentially face lower wages, worse working conditions, and layoffs."

According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, the merger would reduce the total annual earnings of grocery store workers in affected metropolitan areas by $334 million.

In court on Monday, the FTC displayed text messages showing that Kroger executives have complained that Albertsons has forced it "to accept more worker compensation."

The progressive think tank Roosevelt Institute said the trial, which is expected to go on for three weeks, shows that Khan and the FTC are "taking the harms of corporate consolidation on workers seriously."

Kroger's arguments and business practices—including using "dynamic pricing" to price gouge and its exorbitant CEO pay—represent "corporate greed at its absolute worst," said former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

"The Kroger-Albertsons merger would eliminate head-to-head competition between grocery stores across the country," said Hepner. "As grocery store 'price gouging' reaches the top of the political ticket, the FTC is intervening to protect consumers and workers from further harm."