Food store employees grapple with fewer hours and inflation – and sound alarm at merger of two largest chains

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.”