Federal Trade Commission Chair, Lina Khan, recently held a listening session to receive comments from employees impacted by the Safeway-Albertsons merger in 2015. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union recently documented the unfortunate outcome of divestment of 146 stores to competitor Haggen that filed for bankruptcy within 12 months of the transaction.

John Marshall, a Financial Analyst for the UFCW), predicts a similar outcome since C&S, the proposed acquirer of divested Albertsons and Kroger stores will be incapable of successfully operating the locations. He also noted a disparity in the stated purchase price and the value of the stores as real estate.

The theme from the listening session was that only non-unionized companies including Walmart and Amazon would benefit from the transaction.

Khan has indicated that the Federal Trade Commission has not made a decision on whether to litigate against the transaction that is expected to remain in limbo through the remainder of 2023.