UFCW: NYC Surveillance Pricing Ban a Good Step, But Leaves Out Vast Majority of Shoppers

Banning Digital Price Tags Key to Preventing Predatory Pricing at Brick-and-Mortar Stores, where the Majority of New Yorkers Shop

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents 1.2 million essential workers across North America, including tens of thousands across New York, released a statement in response to the New York City Council's passage of legislation to ban surveillance pricing.

UFCW International Vice President Ademola Oyefeso said:

BACKGROUND

• Earlier this year, the UFCW launched the "Affordable Groceries and Good Jobs Campaign" to ban surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels that enable the predatory practice in grocery stores. In the U.S. Senate, the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act, led by Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), was introduced in February, alongside a House companion bill, led by Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.-12) and Representative Val Hoyle (D-Ore.-4).

• States have also proposed their own legislation, with New Jersey leading the way by signing the Fair Price Protection Act into law in July. The bill bans surveillance pricing and institutes a moratorium on ESLs. Twelve other states have introduced the UFCW's model legislation to target the encroachment of AI-driven technology in grocery stores and deliver fair prices for families while preserving good, union grocery jobs.

• An AFL-CIO Tech Institute report from earlier this year found that widespread adoption of ESLs nationally could cost workers up to $6.9 billion in lost wages and hours annually and mean as much as 191,000 fewer jobs. It also found that widespread rollout of this technology in New York could cost workers in the state over $795 million in lost wages and hours annually and mean 21,000 fewer jobs.

• Polling found that 65 percent of American voters think ESLs will cause grocery prices to increase and 68 percent think surveillance pricing itself will cause these costs to rise. Sixty-seven percent of voters are in favor of banning this technology and practices in grocery stores, with support cutting across party lines. Seventy-two percent of respondents said they do not have faith in grocery stores to use this technology responsibly.

• 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.

CONTACT: Finn Storer [email protected]