America’s Largest Food and Retail Union with 1.3 Million Frontline Workers Praised Lina Khan as New Federal Trade Commission Chair for Biden Admin.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which represents over 1.3 million frontline food and retail workers, applauded President Joe Biden’s choice to select Lina Khan to serve as chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
UFCW has been a leading national voice for frontline tech and gig economy workers during the pandemic, including workers the union has helped to organize with Instacart in Chicago, Uber in Canada, and Imperfect Foods grocery delivery in California. UFCW praised the selection of Khan to lead the FTC for recognizing the urgent need to ensure the FTC supports regulating the conduct and organization of U.S. technology companies and guarantees America’s gig workers’ rights and protections are a priority.
UFCW International President Marc Perrone released the following statement:
“President Biden’s choice of Lina Khan to lead the Federal Trade Commission sends a clear message that this White House is committed to holding companies like Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, and DoorDash accountable to their workers and the millions of Americans they serve every day.
“During the pandemic, tech companies like Amazon have repeatedly silenced workers speaking out about the COVID safety hazards they have faced on the frontlines. Retailers like Walmart have consistently failed to prevent COVID infections among their frontline workers in stores. And as gig economy companies like Instacart and DoorDash aggressively expanded in the past year, CEOs across the industry repeatedly put profits ahead of the safety of their workers and customers.
“Lina Khan understands the urgent need for strong antitrust enforcement that will help to restore the balance of power between corporations and the American people. As the nation’s largest union for food and retail workers on the frontlines of this pandemic, UFCW is confident that she will bring the leadership needed at the FTC to protect the public from corporate abuse and be a champion for American consumers and workers.”
Background:
UFCW has been a leading national voice calling for great accountability from technology companies and advocating for America’s gig workers. UFCW has brought attention to workers’ good-paying jobs being threatened by Amazon and Instacart by each company’s choice to put technology and profits before workers’ and their communities’ well-being. UFCW has also called out companies like Albertsons and Instacart for choosing to replace workers with independent contractors and robots. In addition, UFCW has pointed out Amazon and Facebook’s anti-union practices, including retaliatory firings of worker activists and promoting a tool that allows companies to censor communications among their workers about unionizing.
Currently, Khan is a professor at Columbia Law School and a graduate of Yale Law School. According to reporting by Bloomberg, Khan rose to prominence with a 2017 research paper on Amazon.com Inc. that she wrote as a law student at Yale University. Bloomberg also reported that Khan previously worked at Open Markets Institute, as an adviser for the FTC, and was counsel to the House antitrust committee.
###
UFCW is the largest private sector union in the United States. UFCW International represents 1.3 million professionals and their families in healthcare, grocery stores, meatpacking, food processing, retail shops and other industries. Our members serve our communities in all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. Learn more about the UFCW at ufcw.org.