Catherwood LibraryILR School

The Attorney General in Colorado has filed a lawsuit against two major grocery companies, Kroger and Albertsons, claiming that the companies colluded to decrease worker leverage and power during previous strike action. The companies allegedly agreed to not try and gain new customers who would be boycotting and reached an anti-poaching agreement. This would allow both Kroger and Albertsons to maintain the same customers after the strikes concluded. The workers who went on strike were represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, and the Attorney General claims that unionized workers lost bargaining power due to the agreement between the two companies. Kroger and Albertsons filed to merge in 2022, and the lawsuit is seeking to strike down the merger and to restrict companies from forming anti-poaching agreements. The lawsuit claims that the merging of the two companies would increase the possibility of anti-competitive collusion.