Allegations of unfair labor practices against Smart & Final Escalate

Smart & Final plans to close two unionized warehouses in Commerce and Riverside, Calif., laying off more than 600 warehouse workers.

On July 1, U.S. Representative Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat from California, sent an oversight request to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of Transportation (DOT), highlighting his concerns about Chedraui/Smart and finalunfair labor practices (ULP) and call for regulatory, legislative or coercive measures.

THE letter The move comes as the grocery chain plans to close two unionized Smart & Final warehouses in Commerce and Riverside, Calif., laying off more than 600 warehouse workers and forcing them to reapply for jobs that pay $10 to $12 less per hour at a giant new non-union warehouse in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Workers represented by Teamsters Local 630 are currently on striketo protest against the mass layoffs and other collective redundancy measures taken by the company.

In the letter, Rep. Gomez uses Smart & Final’s behavior as a case study of unfair practices that may currently operate outside of the existing labor and cross-border trucking provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), noting that Congress should consider whether new solutions are needed to address these unfair practices as it prepares for a possible review and extension of the USMCA in 2026. The USMCA was adopted four years ago.