Chris Cheely, Guest Commentary//June 8, 2025//
Chris Cheely, Guest Commentary//June 8, 2025//
As a Union Leader in Southern Arizona, I see the struggle of workers firsthand. Every day, workers across Arizona are doing everything they can to keep up with an economy that is rigged against them. They are showing up early, staying late, picking up extra shifts and stretching every paycheck a little further.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard Arizonans work, they’re fighting an uphill battle against a system that is designed to benefit corporate executives at their expense.
We’ve seen countless examples of workers fighting an unfair system, especially in retail.
While workers do their part to keep the shelves stocked and check out customers at the cash register, big box retailers like Target, Walmart and Home Depot work overtime to squash their workers’ efforts to unionize. Target and Home Depot are known to maintain an extensive anti-union program that includes alleged retaliatory firings and intimidation. Walmart also engages in aggressive union busting, including an episode in Kingman, Arizona, where an administrative judge forced the company to notify its one million employees that it had committed an unfair labor practice.
Big box retailers are not just failing their workers. They are failing Arizona consumers too. The same corporations that spend millions fighting workers’ rights to organize are also manipulating prices to maximize their profits. We saw this play out just a few years ago at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the pandemic unleashed supply chain disruptions and sent inflation soaring, some retailers, according to an FTC report, took the opportunity to raise prices beyond what was necessary. Even though inflation has cooled and supply chain disruptions have eased since then, the cost of living is still sky-high.
Former labor secretary Robert Reich accused Walmart of driving inflation when the retailer increased the price of food products under its Great Value brand. After that decision, the retailer’s net income increased by 93%.
Whether it is opposing unions, manipulating prices during COVID-19, or backtracking on commitments to diversity, it is clear that retailers do not have the best interests of Arizona communities at heart.
This summer, consumers must be on guard for more COVID-style pricing games. Unlike five years ago, retailers have even more tools to trick consumers. Stores across Arizona are rolling out digital shelf labels that retailers can use to change the price of goods in an instant. Many consumer advocates fear this technology will be used to “surge” prices for groceries, so if it is hot outside the price of ice cream or water will go up. Some Arizona lawmakers have tried to ban these practices. Unfortunately, those efforts have not been successful.
Across the labor movement, we know that workers win when we stand together, but we shouldn’t have to fight alone. As big box retailers gear up to raise prices once again, our lawmakers in Phoenix and Washington, D.C., should keep a close eye on them.
Our leaders need to demand better working conditions for employees. They need to question the retailers about whether price hikes are really necessary, or if they are just using economic uncertainty as cover for corporate greed.
The workers and consumers who make our state strong need to know that their lawmakers are fighting for them. The big box retailers certainly aren’t.
Chris Cheely is a union leader for SMART in Arizona.
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