WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), representing 1.2 million essential workers, including over 250,000 in meatpacking and food processing, announced support for legislation in Minnesota and Iowa to limit vertical integration in the meatpacking industry.
Vertical integration allows large retailers to control supply chains, increasing profits while putting pressure on workers, farmers, ranchers, and consumers.
Mark Lauritsen, UFCW International Vice President and Director of the Food Processing Division, said:
“When grocery retailers vertically integrate, everyone else pays the price. Companies like Walmart and Costco are expanding into meatpacking, pushing down prices for farmers and wages for workers, while ultimately raising costs for consumers.
This growing consolidation threatens jobs and gives employers more power to suppress wages. Lawmakers in Iowa and Minnesota are stepping up with legislation that would level the playing field by supporting fair wages, fair prices, and stronger local economies. Our food system needs more competition, not less.
Minnesota State Sen. Aric Putnam...
“Minnesota farmers are taking home a shrinking share of every dollar consumers spend on meat, and yet prices at the grocery counter keep rising. SF 4393 would prevent the largest retailers in America from locking in that broken dynamic by acquiring ownership over the very meatpackers that should be competing for farmers’ livestock — because when one company controls the supply chain, farmers get squeezed and consumers pay the bill.”
Iowa State Rep. J.D. Scholten...
“Since at least the pandemic, packers have squeezed farmers, suppressed workers and continue to raise costs for the American consumer. I support the retail packer ban to begin to balance the power of the American farmer, worker and consumer.”
