Food could get even more expensive with Sysco, USFoods merger, Teamsters warn

Teamsters today warned state and federal officials that food costs could rise and workers could be hurt if foodservice giant Sysco buys foodservice giant USFoods.

Teamsters met with  Federal Trade Commission staff and state attorneys general investigating Sysco’s proposed acquisition of US Foods for antitrust issues

Teamsters represent more than 7,600 Sysco warehouse workers and drivers and nearly 4,000 at US Foods covering 70 warehouses in the U.S.

Sysco’s $8.2 billion buyout is currently under review by the FTC and a multi-state committee of attorneys general tasked with examining the effects on competition.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said,

The costs of this merger will be borne not only by people who want to go out for dinner with their families, but by taxpayers who fund public institutions, travelers, elderly patients in nursing homes and the employees. It deserves careful and deliberate scrutiny.