{"id":35918,"date":"2024-09-03T13:34:53","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T20:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=35918"},"modified":"2024-09-03T13:34:53","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T20:34:53","slug":"why-giant-mergers-harm-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/03\/why-giant-mergers-harm-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why giant mergers harm workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
ROBERT REICH<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
SEP 2, 2024<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMan Controlling Trade\u201d by Michael Lantz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In front of the Federal Trade Commission building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., where I used to work, stands a giant sculpture of a runaway horse being reined in. It\u2019s called \u201cMan Controlling Trade.\u201d The allegorical sculpture by Michael Lantz is one of a pair installed in 1942, part of a New Deal-era program administered by the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the Treasury Department to commission works of art for federal buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea that government should rein in the wild forces of capitalism was by 1942 well established. America had gone through a catastrophic Great Depression that revealed the need for stronger regulation of business and finance. The nation had also begun to mobilize the economy to fight World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America then understood that stable prices and good wages depended on government taming corporate greed for the common good. This wasn\u2019t socialism or communism. It was democratic, progressive capitalism. It was a means of saving <\/em>both capitalism and democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, in a court in Oregon, the Federal Trade Commission began to rein in two giant runaway grocery chains \u2014 Kroger and Albertsons \u2014 that want to merge into the biggest grocery combination in history and gallop away with your money and many workers\u2019 wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the first time anti-monopoly law has been used both to tame consumer prices and help workers gain better wages. The case illustrates how the Biden-Harris administration is seeking to restructure the economy for the common good \u2014 and what the Harris-Walz administration will, hopefully, have the opportunity to do even more of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three arguments undergird the FTC\u2019s case:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1) Grocery prices are already through the roof, in part because there\u2019s not sufficient competition in most local grocery markets to force chains to lower their prices. <\/strong>Kroger and Albertsons are the two biggest grocery chains in America. If they\u2019re allowed to merge, the combined company, plus Walmart, will control 70 percent <\/em>of the grocery market in over 150 cities. That means even higher<\/em> prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(2) The proposed $24.6 billion merger would not only put 5,000 American grocery stores under one corporation.<\/strong> It would put 41 retail grocery brands and 4,000 pharmacies under the same corporation. It would signal to every other industry they can make big profits by further monopolizing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(3) If allowed to combine, Kroger and Albertsons would also put their combined 700,000 workers under one corporation. <\/strong>These workers would then have to bargain with just one take-it-or-leave-it giant grocery chain. This would erode their bargaining power, leading to lower wages, worse benefits, and weaker worker protections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This last point \u2014 the relationship between corporate concentration and lower wages and benefits \u2014 is almost never raised in antitrust litigation yet it\u2019s hugely important for understanding the current structure of the American economy and why so many American workers justifiably feel shafted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

**<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the late 19th century, the U.S. government has been deciding the extent to which corporations can join together to gain market power, and workers can join together in labor unions to gain bargaining power. This balance of power has had as much effect on prices and wages as supply and demand \u2014 in fact, it undergirds supply and demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1890 and then again in 1914, the United States enacted anti-monopoly laws. Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were fierce trust-busters. In 1935, FDR signed into law the National Labor Relations Act, which allowed workers to form labor unions and required employers to negotiate in good faith with those unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1950, big business and big labor were in rough balance. That balance of power was central to the growth of both the American economy and the American middle class. It fostered a basic bargain: As corporations became more profitable, their workers did, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources: Historic Statistics of the United States, Unionstats.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last 40 years, though, union power has dropped precipitously while corporate power has soared. The result has been near-record levels of inequality (see chart, above).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1955, <\/strong>over a third <\/strong><\/em>of all workers in the private sector were unionized,<\/strong> which gave them considerable bargaining power to get higher wages. (Employers whose workers weren\u2019t unionized often offered their workers almost the same wages and benefits as those in the unionized sector, to fend off unionization.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, only <\/strong>6 percent <\/strong><\/em>of private sector workers are unionized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, over just the last two decades, more than <\/strong>75 percent of U.S. industries <\/strong><\/em>have become more concentrated.<\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four beef packers now control over 80 percent<\/a> of their market, domestic air travel<\/a> is now dominated by four airlines, and many Americans<\/a> have only one choice of reliable broadband provider. Just four companies \u2014 Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and Albertsons \u2014 dominate the grocery industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When few workers are unionized, wages remain stagnant or decline. Without adequate competition, prices and corporate profits rise. The result: Wealth is siphoned off <\/strong>from<\/strong><\/em> workers and consumers <\/strong>to<\/strong><\/em> large corporations and shareholders.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1970s, I worked at the Federal Trade Commission, which actively fought anti-competitive mergers and monopolies. But the Reagan administration eased up on them. Reagan also encouraged attacks on unions, as exemplified by his firing of striking air traffic controllers (who, in truth, had no right to strike).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden administration has made priorities of both<\/em> cracking down on corporate concentration and<\/em> strengthening labor unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lina Khan, chair of the FTC, and Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for the antitrust division of the Justice Department, have been aggressively fighting corporate power. Jennifer Abruzzo, general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, has been aggressively protecting workers\u2019 organizing rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is far, far more to do. Last week, Khan, Kanter, Abruzzo, and Labor Secretary Julie Su signed a memo of agreement, enabling them to coordinate their efforts even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they also need more resources to do their important work. Inequality is out of control. Big corporations are more profitable than ever. CEO pay is bonkers. (Kroger paid its CEO $15 million last year, which was 502 times what the typical Kroger employee earned. If the merger goes through, Albertsons\u2019 CEO would receive $43 million<\/a>, on top of his $15.1 million compensation.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet most workers are still receiving a small portion of the economic gains. According to the latest estimates<\/a>, the median household income is $74,580.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both sides of the economic equation \u2014 corporate power and worker power \u2014 must be addressed. The Biden-Harris administration has made a good start at reining in corporate power and strengthening worker power. Stopping the Kroger-Albertsons merger is an important step along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s hoping the Harris-Walz administration will take many more such steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Labor Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROBERT REICH SEP 2, 2024 \u201cMan Controlling Trade\u201d by Michael Lantz Friends, In front of the Federal Trade Commission building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., where I used to work, stands a giant sculpture of a runaway horse being reined in. It\u2019s called \u201cMan Controlling Trade.\u201d The allegorical sculpture… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35920,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35918\/revisions\/35920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}