(Portland, OR) -- A federal judge in Portland is hearing testimony about why the Kroger and Albertsons merger should be stopped. The Federal Trade Commission has sued to stop the merger, and the three-week hearing will determine whether a temporary injunction will be issued to pause the merger while the case is heard. Kroger says the merger is needed to compete with Walmart and Amazon, but the United Food and Commercial Workers union says the best way to do that is open more stores. The union argues the merger won't lead to price reductions and it'll result in store closings and layoffs.