A two-week strike covering approximately 10,000 unionized workers across 77 King Soopers stores in Colorado started Thursday morning.
The strike follows union votes earlier this week to authorize an Unfair Labor Practice strike, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 announced Wednesday. The local union said its multiple claims against the Kroger-owned banner include:
- illegally interrogating union members about bargaining and surveilling members in discussions with union staff
- illegally refusing to provide information necessary for the union to be able to make or consider proposals in contract negotiations
- illegally threatening members with discipline and sending home from work for showing support for the union
- unlawfully insisting on cutting $8 million in retiree health benefit funds to pay for wage increases for active workers
The local union claims that King Soopers did not respond for months to the union’s request for information on sales and staffing and then provided some — but not enough — information in January. The contract covering the workers expired last month after three months of contract negotiations, the union said.
The strike, which started at 5 a.m. local time Thursday, covers all unionized King Soopers workers at stores in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties and those in the Colorado cities of Boulder and Louisville.
In a video message to workers, Joe Kelley, president of King Soopers and City Market, said the union called for the strike before the National Labor Relations Board ruled on the unfair labor practice allegations. The labor action puts King Soopers workers at a disadvantage compared with workers at rival banner Safeway, which is owned by Albertsons, Kelley said.
“They’re using unchecked power and undetermined allegations to create uncertainty and once again they are asking you to carry the burden while Safeway associates continue working and collecting a paycheck,” Kelley said, noting that Safeway’s prices are about 10%-12% higher than King Soopers’.
King Soopers said in a Monday press release that it put multiple wage proposals forward and that the union did not respond with their own wage proposal. “The Company remains committed to putting more money in associates’ paychecks while maintaining their industry leading benefit and pension plans – all while keeping groceries affordable for the communities they serve,” the grocery company said in the announcement.
The grocer’s “best and final offer” includes a wage increase of up to 6% in the first year of the contract and a $4.50-per-hour wage increase over the next four years for certain workers, such as pharmacy technicians and department heads.
“The Company respects its associates’ rights to participate in a work stoppage. Any associate who chooses to continue to work is welcome to do so,” King Soopers said in the statement. “However, the Company believes associates would be better served if the Union worked with the Company to reach an agreement that would not risk leaving associates without a paycheck, as the Company remains open to continuing to meet with the Union to reach a resolution.”
UFCW Local 7 represents 23,000 union workers across Colorado and Wyoming, of which nearly 12,000 are employed by King Soopers and City Market — another Kroger-owned grocer.
While 2,000 King Soopers’ workers from the Pueblo and Colorado Springs areas in Colorado also voted to authorize a strike, they are not part of the initial strikes that started Thursday, according to UFCW Local 7.
Following a nearly two-week strike in early 2022, King Soopers and City Market workers in the Denver area ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the grocer that included investing $170 million in pay increases and devoting an unspecified additional sum to healthcare as part of the three-year contract. At the time, UFCW Local 7 said the deal was “the most significant wage increase ever secured by a UFCW local for grocery workers.”
