The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.2 million essential workers across the U.S. and Canada, says it has launched a national campaign to ban so-called surveillance pricing, target the encroachment of artificial intelligence-driven technology in grocery stores and deliver fair prices for families while preserving union grocery jobs. The initiative has been dubbed the “Affordable Groceries and Good Jobs Campaign.”
“Americans are hurting under the affordability crisis, and UFCW members see the pain in their faces every time they enter the grocery stores,” says UFCW International President Milton Jones. “Our members also feel it themselves when they shop for their families. We are starting this national campaign to stop corporations from being able to change prices in front of their eyes just because they live in the wrong ZIP code or are a new parent. We are proud to work with elected officials in every part of the country to lead the fight for affordable groceries and good jobs because that is what our members want.”
Today, Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act in the U.S. Senate. The legislation would prohibit price gouging by retail food stores and prohibit surveillance pricing in those stores, with exceptions for promotions like senior or student discounts. It would also require the disclosure of the use of facial recognition technology and ban electronic shelf labels in large grocery stores, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. The House companion is led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Ore., with 50 cosponsors.
“In New Mexico and across the country, Americans are facing sky-high costs at the grocery store and struggling to make ends meet,” Luján says. “With rising costs and Republican policies that gut nutrition assistance, price gouging at grocery stores only fuels the affordability crisis. Our friends, family and neighbors should not be targeted with higher costs simply for trying to put food on the table. Congress must pass this legislation to stop price gouging in grocery stores and lower costs for American families.”
State lawmakers across the country have joined UFCW in this effort. UFCW’s model legislation for states requires the use of analog (or paper) shelf pricing in any retail establishment larger than 10,000 square feet and prohibits surveillance pricing based on unique characteristics.
“Working Oklahomans are already struggling to afford groceries with their paychecks every month,” says Oklahoma state Rep. Cyndi Munson, Democratic leader of the state House of Representatives. “They don’t need to be charged more for the same goods and services as others based on unfair personalized algorithmic and surveillance pricing.”
“This legislation is actually pretty simple: If two people are in the same store buying the same item, they should pay the same price,” says Washington state Rep. Mary Fosse, deputy majority floor leader of the Washington House of Representatives. “Large retailers are investing in AI, algorithms and data systems that can change prices instantly, individually and secretly. We need to stop the rip-off at the register before these practices become the norm. Technology should serve workers and consumers, not exploit them.”
As part of the campaign, UFCW says it will deploy targeted digital outreach to educate and mobilize supporters to demand that federal and state lawmakers take action on surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels.
“In my store, I see customers every day who’ve had to cut back — their grocery carts are smaller, and they’re not buying the same products they used to,” says UFCW Local 400 member Jane St. Louis, a grocery store worker in Damascus, Md. “Surveillance pricing and ESLs will only make that worse if companies are jacking up prices on their customers one by one. ESLs threaten to take work away from workers, while leaving us to handle rightfully angry customers. This legislation does the right thing and bans these practices.”
