Dive Brief:
- United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 is facing a lawsuit from King Soopers alleging the union tried to force the grocer into unlawful multi-union bargaining in the fall.
- UFCW Local 7 violated the National Labor Relations Act with a “continuing pattern of threatening, coercive, and restraining actions,” King Soopers lawyers argued in the lawsuit, which was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
- UFCW Local 7 called the lawsuit “baseless” and denied allegations it forced the grocer to bargain with other union locals. “This litigation is nothing more than an attempt to distract from King Soopers’ efforts to silence its workforce and prevent workers from reaching an equitable contract that addresses major issues like staffing, safety, and healthcare,” the union said in a Friday statement.
Dive Insight:
The lawsuit claims that UFCW Local 7’s strike threats and subsequent strike against King Soopers were, in part, aimed at forcing the grocer to bargain collectively with unions representing non-King Soopers workers: three UFCW local unions and a local Teamsters all based outside of Colorado.
Collective bargaining negotiations for new contracts started between King Soopers and UFCW Local 7 in October, and multiple existing contracts for King Soopers’ workers expired in January, according to the lawsuit.
King Soopers claims that the president of UFCW Local 3000, which is based in Washington state, attended the first bargaining sessions between the grocer and UFCW Local 7 in late October and said the unions aimed to force multi-union bargaining as part of a national strategy. The local unions also did not intend to allow King Soopers and other employees to continue bargaining with local unions independently, per the lawsuit.
King Soopers repeatedly told UFCW Local 7 it objected to the multi-union bargaining effort, the lawsuit added.
King Soopers claims UFCW Local 7 delayed the bargaining process, had representatives from other unions attend contract negotiations and proposed changing King Soopers’ contract expiration date to align with the likely future expiration for UFCW Local 324 and Local 770.
“Local 7 has engaged in a pattern of coercive, restraining, and threatening conduct with a purpose of forcing King Soopers to bargain with unions other than Local 7, culminating in repeated threats of strikes and calling and supporting an unlawful strike by Local 7 members against King Soopers,” according to the lawsuit.
A two-week strike covering approximately 10,000 unionized workers across 77 King Soopers stores in Colorado started Thursday, following votes to authorize an unfair labor practice strike.
On Thursday, UFCW Local 7 announced an expansion of the strikes to Pueblo King Soopers stores starting that Friday but not to workers at King Soopers stores in Colorado Springs, who also voted to authorize a strike. The ULP strike covers multiple claims against the Kroger-owned banner including illegally interrogating union members about bargaining and illegally refusing to provide information necessary for the union to be able to make or consider proposals in contract negotiations
Joe Kelley, president of King Soopers and City Market, told workers in a recorded video message that the union called for the strike before the National Labor Relations Board ruled on the unfair labor practice allegations.
King Soopers said last week ahead of the strike that it put multiple wage proposals forward and that the union did not respond with its own wage proposal.
The lawsuit claims this union orchestrated an environment in which to call for the strike and that the union told its members the strike would support the effort to force King Soopers into multi-union bargaining.
The lawsuit also claims the group of local unions involved in the multi-union bargaining effort are linked to a coalition of multiple, different labor unions calling themselves Essential Workers for Democracy (EW4D).
EW4D’s website says it “is mobilizing rank and file members across the country to stand in solidarity with Local 7” as the King Soopers strike gets underway. In a pledge signed by members of 19 UFCW local unions, the coalition says it wants to create “a national master agreement” covering all 700,000 grocery workers at Kroger and Albertsons, noting that “when we bargain and take action together, we have more power against the bosses.”
King Soopers says the strike threats caused the grocer to incur “significant costs and damages” to make and implement contingency plans to operate its stores during a strike. The lawsuit is seeking UFCW Local 7 to pay King Soopers’ sustained costs, expenses and damages as a result of the alleged illegal actions.
In response to the lawsuit, UFCW Local 7 said that King Soopers invites its competitors — Safeway and Albertsons — to its bargaining sessions and to join its private caucus time.
“The Union vigorously denies any allegations that it is forcing King Soopers to bargain with any local union other than Local 7 and will zealously defend against any attempt to prevent the workers from securing a fair contract,” the union said.
