Union leaders, Minnesota lawmakers push to ban ‘‘surveillance pricing’’ tied to electronic shelf labels

At a Capitol briefing, union officials and DFL lawmakers urged the Minnesota Legislature to ban ‘‘surveillance pricing’’ enabled by AI‑powered electronic shelf labels (ESLs), arguing the technology can raise prices in real time and put steady union grocery jobs at risk.

Diana Tassidamer, secretary treasurer of UFCW 1189, said the tools allow algorithms to change prices during a single shopping trip and that ‘‘consumers don’t stand a chance’’ against mass data collection and automated pricing. ‘‘It’s time to slam the door to shut and protect working families and the essential workers who feed our communities,’’ she said.

The nut of the organizers’ argument: automated, centrally controlled price changes remove predictability for shoppers and remove job tasks performed by local workers. Haley, an e‑commerce worker at Cub Foods in Burnsville who said she is due in August, said fluctuating prices for…