Workers Challenge Mega Grocery Merger

Aug 30, 2024

A federal judge is deciding whether or not to approve the in U.S. history. The Kroger and Albertsons chains say they want to merge in order to better compete with non-unionized grocery retailers such as Walmart. The Biden administration鈥檚 Federal Trade Commission has to stop the $25 billion deal, it would not help lower food prices and could hurt worker rights and wages.聽

Grace Garcia, a cashier at Vons in Glendale, California, with over three decades in the grocery industry, as well as a member of UFCW Local 770, spoke with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about why workers like her are opposing the merger.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.