Press Release from UFCW 3000, UFCW 367 and Teamsters 38

For immediate release: 11/3/2022
Contact: Tom Geiger, 206-604-3421

WA Court Put the Brakes on Albertsons’ Proposed $4 Billion Dividend

Seattle, WA – When Albertsons announced in mid-October that it had agreed to a purchase by Kroger, a handful of essential grocery store workers’ unions came out quickly and condemned the proposal saying it would hurt workers and shoppers. We called on federal and state regulators to stop the merger. And then the Attorney General of Washington filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court to halt the payment of the $4 Billion Albertsons dividend that would be the 1st step of the merger agreement. Attorneys General in CA, IL, and DC filed a similar suit in the District of Columbia.

Today, after hearing the case presented by the WA Attorney General and a slew of attorneys from Albertsons and Kroger, the Court ruled to put a temporary restraining order on the payment that Albertsons had announced would happen on Monday November 7.

UFCW 367, UFCW 3000 and Teamsters 38 reacted: “We applauded these Attorneys General when they filed their lawsuits, and we applaud Attorney General Ferguson and his team for presenting a strong case today and, at least temporarily, putting a pause on Albertsons’ $4 Billion payout for rich stock holders instead of investing in lowering prices, improving store safety and increasing the wages of the workers in the store who made the stores function all during covid.”