U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján Introduces the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act
State Lawmakers Across the Country Working to Protect Family Grocery Bills and Ban Electronic Shelf Labels
UFCW’s “Affordable Groceries and Good Jobs Campaign” to Activate Grassroots Support and Pass Legislation in Multiple States
WASHINGTON – Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.2 million essential workers across the United States and Canada, launched the “Affordable Groceries and Good Jobs Campaign,” a national campaign to ban the predatory practice of “surveillance pricing,” target the encroachment of AI-driven technology in grocery stores, and deliver fair prices for families while preserving good, union grocery jobs.
“Americans are hurting under the affordability crisis, and UFCW members see the pain in their faces every time they enter the grocery store,” said UFCW International President Milton Jones. “Our members also feel it themselves when they shop for their families. We are starting this national campaign to stop corporations from being able to change prices in front of their eyes just because they live in the wrong zipcode or are a new parent. We are proud to work with elected officials in every part of the country to lead the fight for affordable groceries and good jobs because that is what our members want.”
Today, Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act in the U.S. Senate. This legislation would prohibit price gouging by retail food stores and prohibit surveillance pricing in those stores, with exceptions for promotions like senior or student discounts. It would also require the disclosure of the use of facial recognition technology and ban electronic shelf labels (ESLs) in large grocery stores, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The House companion is led by Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12) and Representative Val Hoyle (D-OR-4) with 50 co-sponsors.
“In New Mexico and across the country, Americans are facing sky-high costs at the grocery store and struggling to make ends meet,” said Senator Luján. “With rising costs and Republican policies that gut nutrition assistance, price gouging at grocery stores only fuels the affordability crisis. Our friends, family, and neighbors should not be targeted with higher costs simply for trying to put food on the table. Congress must pass this legislation to stop price gouging in grocery stores and lower costs for American families.”
State lawmakers across the country have joined UFCW in this effort. UFCW’s model legislation for states requires the use of analog (or paper) shelf pricing in any retail establishment larger than 10,000 square feet and prohibits surveillance pricing based on unique characteristics.
“As Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities, corporations are collecting our personal data to extract every cent they can to pad their pockets,” said New York State Senator Michael Gianaris, deputy majority leader of the State Senate. “We cannot allow corporate abuse of New Yorkers, and that starts by addressing the predatory practice of surveillance pricing.”
“Working Oklahomans are already struggling to afford groceries with their paychecks every month,” said Oklahoma State Representative Cyndi Munson, Democratic leader of the State House of Representatives. “They don’t need to be charged more for the same goods and services as others based on unfair personalized algorithmic and surveillance pricing. This bill would address this issue before it continues to spiral out of control and places more burden on Oklahomans who are just trying to feed themselves and their family. I will not allow large corporations to exploit working Oklahomans to increase their profits.”
“This legislation is actually pretty simple: If two people are in the same store buying the same item, they should pay the same price,” said Washington State Representative Mary Fosse, deputy majority floor leader of the Washington House of Representatives. “Large retailers are investing in AI, algorithms, and data systems that can change prices instantly, individually, and secretly. We need to stop the rip-off at the register before these practices become the norm. Technology should serve workers and consumers, not exploit them.”
As part of the campaign, the UFCW will deploy targeted digital outreach to educate and mobilize supporters to demand that federal and state lawmakers take action on surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels.
“In my store, I see customers every day who’ve had to cut back – their grocery carts are smaller, and they’re not buying the same products they used to,” said UFCW Local 400 member Jane St. Louis, a grocery store worker in Damascus, Maryland. “Surveillance pricing and ESLs will only make that worse if companies are jacking up prices on their customers one-by-one. ESLs threaten to take work away from workers, while leaving us to handle rightfully angry customers. This legislation does the right thing and bans these practices.”
BACKGROUND
- In addition to New York, Oklahoma, and Washington, state legislators in Arizona, Nebraska, Maryland, and Tennessee have introduced UFCW’s surveillance pricing and ESL legislation. Throughout 2026, more states will introduce this legislation.
- UFCW members are already taking action. Yesterday, 70 UFCW members met with their legislators in Albany, New York, to ask them to lower grocery prices and support a ban on electronic shelf labels.
- In 2024, the FTC, under Chair Lina Khan and the Biden administration, initiated a study into surveillance pricing practices and released initial findings in January 2025 detailing the practice. However, shortly after President Trump took office, the FTC killed the inquiry.
- Electronic shelf labels, or ESLs, are the missing piece of the surveillance pricing puzzle. With ESLs, companies can change prices in the blink of an eye, and when combined with the AI tools and data collection of surveillance pricing, customers don’t stand a chance at the grocery stores.
- Some retailers are racing to deploy ESL technology in their stores. Wal-Mart has announced it will bring ESLs to 2,300 of its stores by 2026. Kroger began using ESLs in dozens of stores in 2018, expanding to 500 in 2023. Schnucks (St. Louis area) is working to expand ESLs to all 115 stores by 2025.
- ESLs also threaten the livelihoods of grocery workers. These systems could replace the skilled work of grocery clerks or, at the very least, leave them to explain a company’s actions to rightfully angry shoppers. UFCW represents more than 800,000 grocery workers across North America. UFCW members are essential to keeping our communities fed, and they know how disruptive ESLs could be for workers and shoppers alike.
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The UFCW International is the largest private sector union in the United States, representing 1.2 million workers and their families in grocery, meatpacking, food processing, health care, cannabis, retail, and other essential industries. UFCW members serve our communities in all 50 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Learn more about the UFCW at ufcw.org.