Brandon Chew at People’s World reports the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) - the largest Private Sector Union in the U.S. that represents 1.2 million Workers in meatpacking, food processing, grocery, retail and other industries, has endorsed legislation to prevent grocery stores from utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology that critics say will be used to price gouge consumers. The Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act seeks to prohibit companies from using such surveillance data to raise prices or lower wages. The Bill was introduced by U.S. Representatives Greg Casar (Democrat-Texas) and Rashida Tlaib (Democrat-Michigan). “Grocery stores like Kroger are replacing price stickers with electronic labeling, leading to concerns about surge pricing. Electronic shelf labels allow stores to change prices in seconds,” Tlaib told The Detroit Metro-Times. “Imagine if your grocery store charged you a higher price for an item because it used an algorithm based on your personal data and determined that you were willing to pay more than the next person. It might sound unbelievable, but it’s a serious threat.” Tlaib said the Bill directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce a ban on price gouging and prohibits the “personalized price gouging” by grocery stores enabled by surveillance pricing.

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