“My name is Naomi Oligario. I started working at my local Safeway store, in Port Orchard, Washington in 1985. I raised my four kids with my income and benefits from this job. My kids were Safeway babies. As they have grown up, over the years, at one point or another, each have worked at a Safeway store. And my customers are like family too. It is a tight relationship that we all have. We share our triumphs and our tragedies.
In 2015, after nearly 30 years with the company, after coming in on extra shifts, doing extra work to make the store run, after working through holidays, I found out one day, without any advance notice or for-planning, that my store would be bought by Haggen, and that no one would be allowed to transfer to another store. […]
I lived through the debacle of my Safeway store closing, and the new Haggen opening, but quickly it became clear that this was not a good situation. The prices were too high. Many of my loyal customers, within three weeks or less, came to me with tears in their eyes and apologized to me. They said they’d tried but could not shop here anymore. Sales dropped through the floor. Our hours were cut, and quickly many staff were having to look for work elsewhere any where they could find employment… This impacted three income earners in my one family. But the fallout from that failed merger was huge. It was not just me and my family. Similar experiences were felt by workers at over a hundred closed stores. […]
It’s just greed. Plain and simple. A few months ago, back in November, I was in the Senate Subcommittee hearing room and saw the Kroger CEO say they would not close stores or lay off workers. Under oath he said that to a US Senator. But they’re not telling the truth. They will end up closing stores and laying off workers just like happened to me, my family and my co-workers seven years ago. And our customers will lose out again too. This merger is a bad idea and needs to be stopped.”