Resolution in Support of Regulating Surveillance Pricing in Seattle

June 18, 2026

WHEREAS, working people throughout Seattle and King County continue to face rising costs for essential goods and services, including food, housing, transportation, and healthcare; and

WHEREAS, grocery prices remain one of the most significant financial burdens facing union members and working families; and

WHEREAS, many union members work in grocery stores and other retail settings where electronic shelf labels, loyalty programs, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic pricing technologies are increasingly being deployed, giving workers a unique perspective on how these technologies affect both consumers and workplaces; and

WHEREAS, emerging technologies now allow retailers to collect, analyze, and monetize vast amounts of personal consumer data, including purchase histories, loyalty card information, online activity, location data, and other personal information; and

WHEREAS, some retailers and technology companies are developing and deploying systems that enable “surveillance pricing,” the practice of using personal information or consumer characteristics to determine the price a particular customer is offered or charged for a product; and

WHEREAS, retailers are increasingly adopting electronic shelf labels, artificial intelligence systems, and algorithmic pricing tools that can facilitate rapid or dynamic price changes, including “surge pricing,” where prices increase based on demand, timing, consumer behavior, or external events; and

WHEREAS, investigations by Consumer Reports, Groundwork Collaborative, and other organizations have documented examples of consumers being offered different prices for identical grocery items and identical grocery carts, including examples involving Seattle-area grocery shoppers; and

WHEREAS, these practices threaten to undermine fundamental principles of fairness by allowing corporations to charge consumers different prices for the same goods based not on the product itself, but on information known about the customer; and

WHEREAS, surveillance pricing and surge pricing may disproportionately harm low-income households, seniors, people with disabilities, communities of color, and other consumers with the fewest alternatives and the least ability to absorb higher costs; and

WHEREAS, union members are not only workers but also consumers, parents, caregivers, and community members who should be able to trust that the price of goods is determined fairly and transparently; and

WHEREAS, Seattle has the opportunity to become a national leader in establishing consumer protections that ensure new technologies are used in ways that benefit workers and consumers rather than exploit them;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that MLK Labor supports the passage of strong legislation in the City of Seattle to prohibit surveillance pricing and protect consumers from unfair and discriminatory pricing practices; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that MLK Labor recognizes that workers and their unions should have a voice in the implementation, oversight, and regulation of new technologies that affect consumers, workplaces, and local communities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that MLK Labor shall communicate its support for strong consumer protections on surveillance pricing to the Mayor, the City Council, and participate in advocacy efforts to pass this policy.