this is K2 news at 5 on your side I think it's going to hurt workers I think it's going to hurt food prices and I think it's going to make uh U medicine less available and higher priced tonight Oregon Senator Ron widen promising to do anything he can to stop a$ 24 billion merger between Kroger and Albertson's the mega merger now in the hands of a federal judge in Portland the Federal Trade Commission suing to pause the deal good evening thanks for staying with us for KT news at 5 I'm Deb and I'm Barry Mangold in for Steve Dunn the companies tell us that those claims that the merger will lead to a jump in prices are all wrong now they're facing backlash new backlash in fact from unions who previously supported the deal this can have an impact on hundreds of thousands of workers the union representing thousands of grocery store workers speaking out on Monday against Kroger's plan to buy Albertson if it's allowed to go through it would be the largest grocery merger in US history Kroger and Albertson's claim that the merger is necessary to compete with Walmart and Amazon but that's not true their true goal is to consolidate power and increase profits at the expense of customers and workers right now the Federal Trade Commission is asking a federal judge for a preliminary injunction on the $24 billion deal saying in court documents that the merger would destroy competition leaving consumers to foot the bill nine States including Oregon are back backing up the ftc's effort to stop the merger Washington and Colorado are suing in separate cases as well right now both companies own more than 5,000 stores combined across dozens of States if the merger goes through Kroger and Albertson say they would sell over 500 stores where their stores already overlap the companies say the merger is necessary for them to compete with other industry leaders like Walmart Costco and Amazon the answer to mergers is not more big mergers Senator Ron weyden adding to the push back saying that the merger could lead to lower availability for prescription drugs in addition to higher prices on food items both companies deny those claims a Kroger official telling K2 quote Kroger joining with Albertson's will mean lower prices for more customers higher wages for associates and expanded food access in more communities in that federal court hearing on the ftc's motion for a preliminary injunction started today it's expected to last 3 weeks until September 13th