"Corporate abuse": Kroger and Albertsons are in hot water over alleged strike sabotage

Supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons, already under scrutiny for their proposed $24.6 billion merger, are now facing a new class-action lawsuit that alleges the companies conspired against unionized workers during a 2022 strike. The suit, which was filed in Colorado, accuses the companies of entering a “no-poach” agreement which illegally undermined workers’ bargaining power. 

The lead plaintiff, Valarie Morgan, is a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 who led King Soopers contract negotiations from 2021 to 2022. She and the other grocery workers who claim they are similarly affected are represented by the progressive legal nonprofit, Towards Justice. Morgan claims the companies colluded to prevent Albertsons, which owns Safeway stores in Colorado, from hiring workers striking against King Soopers, which is a Kroger subsidiary. 

“I want to stand up for all the workers who were harmed by this corporate abuse,” Morgan said in a statement. “These companies rigged the system against us, undermining our right to fight for better pay and fair treatment through our unions.” 

In 2022, more than 8,000 King Soopers employees walked off the job as they demanded higher wages and improved working conditions. The strike ended with a new contract, but the new lawsuit contends the alleged no-poach agreement limited employees’ leverage and cost workers potential gains during bargaining. According to The Denver Post, Morgan’s lawsuit targets “the same alleged ‘no-poach’ deal that Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said Kroger and Albertsons Cos. agreed to when members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 went on strike against King Soopers.” 

Weiser’s lawsuit — which was filed in February and sought to block the merger between Kroger and Albertsons — alleges that emails between senior labor executives at both companies, disclosed during the inquiry, revealed that an Albertsons executive promised not to hire striking King Soopers workers or solicit their pharmacy customers, violating the state’s antitrust laws. 

According to the Denver Post, the complaint about the agreements is independent of the merger.“But the fact that the company entered into such agreements and thought they could get away with it, underscores why competition matters, to consumers, to workers, to farmers and to our communities,” Weiser said. 

At the time, Kroger’s legal team rejected claims that the correspondence constitutes unlawful agreement. During the Colorado trial, as reported by Colorado Newsline, a lawyer for Kroger argued the companies were not engaging in a “quid pro quo,” but only sought to understand each other’s intent. 

“That’s all my client did — asked Albertsons, ‘This is what your folks are doing. This is what our folks are doing. What is your intent?’” said Kroger attorney Matt Wolf. “That is not an unlawful question. Responding to that question is not unlawful. That is not an agreement.”

However, union officials see it differently. Kim Cordova, the president of the UFCW Local 7, said the group’s members “could have made even more gains if these corporations had not broken the law behind our backs.” 

“Had we known the companies were working in tandem, in a coordinated effort to hurt the members, we believe the outcome would have been different,” Cordova told the Denver Post. 

The lawsuit, filed in Colorado state court, seeks financial compensation for lost wages and an injunction to prevent similar agreements in the future. It also claims the companies’ actions violated Colorado’s antitrust laws, which prohibit agreements that restrain competition.

This latest controversy adds fuel to the ongoing debate surrounding Kroger and Albertsons’ proposed merger, which has drawn opposition from labor groups, consumer advocates and government regulators. Critics of the deal argue that combining two of the largest grocery chains in the country could stifle competition, which might lead to higher prices for customers and layoffs and worsened conditions for workers.

The Federal Trade Commission has filed its own lawsuit to block the merger, citing antitrust concerns. The agency argues that the deal would reduce competition and lead to price increases for consumers.

To address regulatory concerns, Kroger and Albertsons have proposed divesting hundreds of stores, particularly in regions where their operations overlap. Earlier this year, the companies announced plans to sell Safeway locations in Arizona and other areas.

Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran has defended the merger as a strategic necessity to compete with non-union retail giants like Walmart, Amazon and Costco. “I have deep concerns when I look forward about our competitive condition,” Sankaran said earlier this year. “If you don’t fundamentally change your competitive condition as you look out two, three, four years, your financial condition will deteriorate. I’m losing more of our customers’ dollars to Costco and Walmart than to Kroger.”

However, labor leaders argue that such corporate moves prioritize profits over people. 

“Coloradans remember the King Soopers strike well. Many of us refused to cross the picket line to support workers’ right to fair wages,” David Seligman, executive director of Towards Justice, said in a statement. “Little did we know that these companies had worked behind the scenes to rig the game. Their illegal scheme hurt workers, consumers, and the broader community. That’s what this case is about.”

As the lawsuit unfolds, it underscores broader tensions in the grocery industry over labor rights and market consolidation. For workers like Morgan, the fight is about more than wages; it’s about accountability.

“Hardworking Coloradans deserve better,” she said.