Class Action Filed Against Kroger, Albertsons Over No-Poach Agreements
A longtime grocery worker has become the lead plaintiff in a class action, filed Nov. 26 on behalf of grocery store workers across Colorado, against the King Soopers and City Market divisions of The Kroger Co., as well as the Safeway banner of Albertsons Cos. Filed by Denver-based nonprofit Towards Justice, a public-interest law firm, the suit alleges that unlawful no-poach agreements were entered into by the two companies at the time of a 2022 strike against King Soopers by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7. The lead plaintiff, UFCW Local 7 member Valarie Morgan, was on the union’s contract negotiation team in 2021-22.
An investigation into the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger led to a lawsuit filed by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, which is currently pending before the Denver District Court. As part of the suit, which seeks to block the proposed $24.6 billion mega-merger, Weiser also challenged the alleged no-poach agreements.
At the time, the AG noted: “King Soopers was concerned about losing employees and customers to Safeway during the strike and entered into an agreement with Albertsons whereby Safeway agreed not to hire any King Soopers employees and to not solicit any of King Soopers’ pharmacy customers, according to an email between company executives leading up to the strike. Such no-poach and non-solicitation agreements are illegal under the Colorado State Antitrust Act, because they are agreements to not compete.”
Although AG Weiser’s suit seeks to impose penalties against the grocers for allegedly making those agreements, the class action seeks to recover lost wages and other economic gains for workers that could have been secured without the alleged agreements.
“This case is an attempt to bring light and justice to the 18,000 unionized grocery store workers, and the thousands of non-union grocery store workers, who were harmed by this hidden and illegal deal between King Soopers, City Market, and Safeway parent companies Kroger and Albertsons,” said Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, which has offices in Colorado Springs, Cheyenne, Denver, Grand Junction, Greeley and Pueblo, Colo. “Our members went on strike and won a major new contract, but now it has become clear we could have made even more gains if these corporations had not broken the law behind our backs.”
When contacted for comment by Progressive Grocer, a Kroger spokesperson responded: “There were no non-solicitation or so-called no-poach agreements between Kroger and Albertsons. Kroger competes for talent in a broad and diverse labor market, including from non-grocery, non-union retailers like restaurants, foodservice companies, convenience stores, warehouses and more. In fact, data shows that only 1%-2.5% of Kroger associates come from and/or move to Albertsons.”
The Kroger Family of Companies’ nearly 420,000 associates serve more than 11 million customers daily through a digital shopping experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names. The Cincinnati-based grocer is No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. As of Sept. 7, Albertsons Cos. operated 2,267 retail food and drug stores with 1,726 pharmacies, 405 associated fuel centers, 22 dedicated distribution centers and 19 manufacturing facilities. The Boise, Idaho-based company operates stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia under more than 20 well-known banners. Albertsons is No. 9 on The PG 100 PG also named both companies among its Retailers of the Century.
