Reuters - Kroger case tests FTC Chair Khan's bid to protect workers

Food program manager Claire Kelloway argues that the Kroger-Albertsons merger would likely lead to store closures, job losses, and reduced wages for workers, emphasizing the need for the Federal Trade Commission to consider these labor impacts in its antitrust review

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan's initiative to use antitrust laws to protect workers is being tested at a trial that began on Monday, as the agency alleges that grocery chain Kroger's (KR.N), opens new tab proposed merger with rival Albertsons (ACI.N), opens new tab would crush the bargaining power of unionized workers.

Khan and her fellow antitrust enforcers in the Biden administration have sought to use antitrust laws - deployed in recent decades mostly to protect consumers against high prices - to combat what they view as anticompetitive practices squeezing workers' paychecks.

Labor has been an area of focus for Khan, a former law professor and congressional antitrust counsel, who took the reins of the agency in June 2021.

"Since stepping into the role of Chair, I have been reminded, over and over, of the ways that the FTC’s decisions deeply and directly affect the well-being of people who work for a living," Khan said at a speech at Harvard University in February.

"It's really important for her," said Rebecca Haw Allensworth, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt Law School, referring to Khan. "This is the first high-profile example of them trying to go after a merger using a labor market theory."

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