Breaking with the national United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 555 representing workers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming has endorsed the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons.
To date the National Union has expressed extreme opposition to the transaction. The action by Local 555 is based on concern over job security. The president of this Union and a Safeway worker, believes that divestment of Albertsons by Cerberus is inevitable, employees would rather the group be acquired by Kroger than by another entity. Ann Poff stated, “It’s foolish to think that stopping this merger means everything will stay the same.” She added, “Forcing Cerberus to continue to own Albertsons is not an option if they don’t sell to Kroger it will be to someone else.” Given profits generated by Albertsons this eventuality is not ordained.
The local Union may have been heartened by the commitment by C&S Wholesale Grocers to honor union agreements with respect to the 413 stores that will be acquired, many located in the states represented by UFCWU Local 555.
The position of the national UFCWU is that divestiture of stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers will be a replay of the Haggen debacle in 2015 when these locations were repurchased by Albertsons at a considerable discount resulting in subsequent closures and termination of employment. Local 555 are enigmatically seeking job security through the C&S Wholesale acquisition but this may well be wishful thinking.
The endorsement may well be moot given the decision of the FTC on February 26th to disallow the transaction.