By Mary O’KEEFE

As if going to your local grocery store is not enough of an exercise in economic frustration, now comes word of a possible mega merger and local stores being sold.

Kroger Company, which includes Ralphs supermarket, proposed a major merger with Albertsons Companies.

In February the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued to block this proposed supermarket merger, which would be the largest in U.S. history. The FTC alleges Kroger’s $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons is anticompetitive.

“The FTC charges that the proposed deal will eliminate fierce competition between Kroger and Albertsons, leading to higher prices for groceries and other essential household items for millions of Americans. The loss of competition will also lead to lower quality products and services, while also narrowing consumers’ choices for where to shop for groceries. For thousands of grocery store workers, Kroger’s proposed acquisition of Albertsons would immediately erase aggressive competition for workers, threatening the ability of employees to secure higher wages, better benefits, and improved working conditions,” according to the FTC statement in February.

This week Kroger Co. released the full list of stores, distribution centers and plants it is planning to divest in an effort to secure regulatory approval for the proposed merger.

According to Bloomberg, the companies have started notifying staff at the affected locations.

In an email from Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s CEO, impacted workers will become employees of C&S Wholesale Grocers after the transaction closes, and will remain as Kroger and Albertsons staff until then. C&S has committed to transferring pay and health plans and assuming all collective bargaining agreements, according to Bloomberg.

Kroger and Albertsons released a list this week of 579 stores to be sold off to C&S Wholesale Grocers; 63 are in California and most of those are in Southern California. Several stores are in the Crescenta Valley including Vons at 3233 Foothill Blvd. and 2039 Verdugo Blvd., and Vons at 7789 Foothill Blvd. in Tujunga and 301 N. Pass Ave. in Burbank.

Eight states and Washington, D.C., as well as the FTC, have filed separate lawsuits to block Kroger’s merger in federal court.

United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) unions 7, 324, 400, 770 and 3000 released a joint statement in response to the Kroger Albertsons release of the store divestiture list: “[This week’s] announcement changes nothing. The merger is not a done deal, far from it. We remain focused on stopping the proposed mega-merger for the same reasons we have stated since it was first announced over 20 months ago – because we know it would harm workers, it would harm shoppers, it would harm suppliers and communities, and it is illegal. The merger proposal was rejected in January and February by the attorneys general from the states of Colorado and Washington and the Federal Trade Commission. We applaud their actions. They have been in possession of this proposed divestiture list, made public [this week] by the companies, for months and that did not change their opposition to the proposed merger. These legal challenges to the proposed merger are moving forward with hearings beginning at the end of July and scheduled to go through September.”

The FTC’s administrative hearing for this case will start on July 31, said an FTC spokeswoman.

“This case is ongoing litigation,” she said. “People should not read into it as a ‘done deal.’”

California stores that would be sold off in the proposed merger:

• Vons – 5671 Kanan Road, Agoura Hills
• Pavilions – 9467 W Olympic Blvd, Beverly Hills
• Pavilions – 1110 W Alameda Ave, Burbank
• Vons – 301 N Pass Ave, Burbank
• Vons – 820 Arneill Road, Camarillo
• Vons – 6951 El Camino Real, Carlsbad
• Vons – 3439 Via Montebello, Carlsbad
• Albertsons – 200 E Sepulveda Blvd, Carson
• Vons – 185 E 17th St, Costa Mesa
• Pavilions – 11030 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City
• Albertsons – 33601 Del Obispo St, Dana Point
• Vons – 2606 Del Mar Heights Road, Del Mar
• Albertsons – 2899 Jamacha Road, El Cajon
• Albertsons – 7201 Yorktown Ave, Huntington Beach
• Albertsons – 16600 Bolsa Chica St, Huntington Beach
• Vons – 500 E Manchester Blvd, Inglewood
• Vons – 3233 Foothill Blvd, La Crescenta
• Pavilions – 7544 Girard Ave, La Jolla
• Vons – 78271 Hwy 111, La Quinta
• Pavilions – 600 N Pacific Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach
• Albertsons – 1500 N H St, Lompoc
• Vons – 1820 Ximeno Ave, Long Beach
• Vons – 11322 Los Alamitos Blvd, Los Alamitos
• Albertsons – 3901 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles
• Vons – 3118 S Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles
• Vons – 3461 W 3rd St, Los Angeles
• Vons – 1430 S Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles
• Vons – 6571 W 80th St, Los Angeles
• Pavilions – 29211 Heathercliff Road, Malibu
• Vons – 410 Manhattan Beach Blvd, Manhattan Beach
• Pavilions – 4365 Glencoe Ave, Marina del Rey
• Vons – 2039 Verdugo Blvd, Montrose
• Albertsons – 730 Quintana Road, Morro Bay
• Albertsons – 541 S Reino Road, Newbury Park
• Pavilions – 2660 San Miguel Dr, Newport Beach
• Pavilions – 1000 Bayside Dr, Newport Beach
• Albertsons – 9022 Balboa Blvd, Northridge
• Vons – 17380 Sunset Blvd, Pacific Palisades
• Albertsons – 42095 Washington St, Palm Desert
• Albertsons – 1751 N Sunrise Way Ste 1, Palm Springs
• Vons – 4733 E Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs
• Pavilions – 7 Peninsula Ctr, Palos Verdes Peninsula
• Albertsons – 804 Avenida Pico, San Clemente
• Pavilions – 989 Avenida Pico, San Clemente
• Pavilions – 3850 Valley Centre Dr, San Diego
• Vons – 11986 Bernardo Plaza Dr, San Diego
• Vons – 1702 Garnet Ave, San Diego
• Vons – 2495 Truxtun Road Ste 100, San Diego
• Safeway – 1499 Washington Ave, San Leandro
• Vons – 1440 W 25th St, San Pedro
• Vons – 163 S Turnpike Road, Santa Barbara
• Vons – 9643 Mission Gorge Road, Santee
• Pavilions – 1101 Pacific Coast Hwy, Seal Beach
• Pavilions – 14845 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks
• Albertsons – 543 Sweetwater Road, Spring Valley
• Vons – 25850 The Old Road, Stevenson Ranch
• Vons – 4033 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Studio City
• Vons – 18439 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana
• Vons – 7789 Foothill Blvd, Tujunga
• Vons – 6040 Telegraph Road, Ventura
• Pavilions – 6534 Platt Ave, West Hills
• Pavilions – 8969 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood
• Albertsons – 23893 Clinton Keith Road, Wildomar