US grocery workers hit by rising prices: ‘We’re at the bottom of the food chain’

The planned merger of Albertsons and Kroger is being opposed by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Photograph: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Grocery prices have surged in recent years, rising by almost 27% since the months before the pandemic. Workers inside grocery stores have been hit particularly hard.

“We’re often the people down at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to wages,” said Conor Watson, a meat cutter at a Kroger-owned Fred Meyer store in Ellensburg, Washington. “And we’re very, very impacted with these rising prices.”