The uncertainty of the pending merger between grocery juggernauts Kroger and Albertsons has several workers scared to lose years of benefits, seniority and their jobs altogether.

For Naomi Oligario of Port Orchard, who has spent decades in retail with Safeway, it’s deja vu all over again.

Oligario first got involved with Safeway in her days as a student-athlete at South Kitsap High School, when the company worked with her to schedule shifts along with her sports seasons. It also had the benefit of being a popular job option at her age.

“If you were a kid, Safeway/Albertsons grocery stores, union jobs, that was the job to get,” she said. “You didn’t have to go to college at that point. That wasn’t what I had planned on doing, but I remember it being a big deal.”

To her, it’s still that same amazing job opportunity, having served as a clerk and manager in several store departments for over 37 years. Despite long-standing seniority and experience in the company, that opportunity could very well change after Kroger, which owns Fred Meyer, announced in October that it planned to merge with major competitor Albertsons, which owns Safeway, in a $25 billion deal.

Since the announcement, several worker unions representing hundreds of thousands of employees have come out against the merger, saying it benefits the shareholders more than the essential employees that keep businesses running.

The news of a possible merger was enough stress to bring Oligario to tears multiple times during an interview. “It’s the uncertainty of it all,” she said. “It was an automatic throwback to Haggen.”

Oligario was referring to the disastrous series of events that saw Albertsons buy Safeway and Haggen Food and Pharmacy in a surprise expansion plan in 2015. After the dust settled, Haggen was forced to declare bankruptcy, and Safeway and Albertsons had begun divesting some locations as was agreed upon in the purchase.

Oligario was also forced to reapply for a job and was one of the last people hired back. She saw several longtime co-workers and friends leave or be forced to leave, losing crucial benefits and job status. As to why she stuck it out, she said it was the only option available.

“I could not afford to start all over after 30-some years and go back to the bottom,” she said. “I essentially had no choice but to stay with what they had.”

Now there’s the possibility of having to fight the fight all over again. Oligario wanted herself and the other workers to feel heard, and to have their issue taken seriously. That need led her and four other grocery workers to speak at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. She talked about her previous bad experiences as an employee involved with a merger and why business can’t be worth more than the lives of those who work for it.

“I understand growing and making money,” she said. “I get that, but they don’t have to do it to the point of being so detrimental to so many people.”

Oligario said she will continue to work with the unions and other workers to oppose the merger, and is hoping that Congress and the public will respond to their cries for help.

“I felt like we were heard in a sense,” she said, “but I felt like the CEO’s were just lying, just giving numbers to try and make it sound good.”