State to sue grocery chains : Antitrust Law Broken In Strike, Lockyer Charges

by reposts

Sat, Jan 31, 2004 12:41PM

The California Attorney General's Office is expected to file a lawsuit Monday against three major supermarket chains locked in a labor dispute with 70,000 workers in Southern California, alleging the companies broke antitrust laws and hurt consumers by forming a financial pact to protect grocery profits during the strike.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/7842618.htm

The complaint against Safeway, Albertsons and two subsidiaries of Kroger -- Ralphs and Food 4 Less -- centers on their Mutual Strike Assistance Agreement, entered into on Aug. 5, more than two months before a labor dispute led to the Oct. 11 strike and lockout of 70,000 workers.

Under the pact, according to the complaint, the grocery chains agreed to share revenues and costs disproportionately lost or gained as a result of the strike. That sharing "essentially freezes the pre-strike market share," the complaint charges.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/01/31/MNGTG4MBG71.DTL

Lockyer contends the companies' arrangement, which they made several weeks prior to entering collective bargaining with some 70,000 grocery employees, violates federal antitrust laws, particularly the Sherman Act.

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1927318,00.html

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