UFCW - United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
04/15/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/15/2026 14:21
Maryland Legislators Fail to Protect Families from Surveillance Pricing, says UFCW
"Banning ESLs and laws that truly protect people from surveillance pricing are the only way to lower grocery prices and keep them predictable"
"H.B. 895 should be vetoed"
ANNAPOLIS, MD. - Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.2 million essential workers across North America, including hundreds of thousands of grocery workers, released a statement in response to the Maryland State House passing legislation addressing surveillance pricing in grocery stores.
UFCW International Vice President Ademola Oyefeso said:
"Despite inflation surging, Gov. Moore fighting to lower grocery prices, and strong public support for banning electronic shelf labels, Maryland lawmakers have abandoned families struggling with high costs at the grocery store. By failing to fully protect Marylanders from predatory pricing strategies and ESLs, legislators have left massive corporations like Walmart an opening to price-gouge and exploit these well-meaning regulations.
"Without a ban, corporations will have loopholes to hike prices with ESLs, based on time of day or location of the grocery store. These major investments will pay off for them at the expense of working families.
"Maryland leaders came up short in their efforts to shield customers and workers from predatory pricing at the grocery store. Banning ESLs and laws that truly protect people from surveillance pricing are the only way to lower grocery prices and keep them predictable. H.B. 895 should be vetoed by Gov. Moore, and we urge the legislature to go back to the drawing board. We encourage Marylanders to contact their elected officials and join us in this call."
Email [email protected] to speak with a spokesperson about the threat that surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels pose to fair grocery prices and good, union jobs.
BACKGROUND
- Polling from GBAO recently found that 69 percent of Maryland voters think ESLs will cause grocery prices to increase. Support for banning this technology in grocery stores cut across party lines, with 68 percent in favor.
- ESLs enable retailers to change prices instantaneously, and corporations are racing to deploy them. Walmart, for example, plans to replace traditional paper price tags with digital ones across all of its stores by the end of 2026. The corporation also recently secured patents to use shoppers' personal data to update prices at scale.
- 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. The 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.
UFCW - United Food and Commercial Workers International Union published this content on April 15, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on April 15, 2026 at 20:21 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]