DENVER (KDVR) — After failed union negotiations with King Soopers, around 10,000 grocery store employees across the Denver metro and the Front Range are planning to strike on Thursday morning.
A letter from UFCW Local 7, a Colorado grocery store union, announced that 77 stores are set to strike on Thursday at 5 a.m. for two weeks.
The union said this includes about 10,000 employees from all unionized King Soopers stores throughout Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties as well as King Soopers stores in the cities of Boulder and Louisville.
“Over the past week, union members from across Colorado resoundingly told King Soopers and City Market that they were fed up with the Company’s unfair labor practices and authorized an Unfair Labor Practice Strike,” the letter said.
According to the letter, there will be a picket line at the front of the store, and once the strike begins, employees will walk out and get behind the picket line. The union claims that King Soopers has temporarily hired employees and flown them out to work during this time.
The union said this is the start of many pending strikes across Colorado, as some stores won’t go on strike on Thursday, but stores in areas like Colorado Springs and Pueblo could go on strike within the next few days. Meanwhile, other King Soopers and City Market workers in Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland are preparing strike votes.
Negotiations fail, Colorado stores vote to strike
Since October, King Soopers and union employees have worked on negotiations and met over 10 times but never reached a deal.
“It’s a very rich offer. It’s over $4.50 over the course of the contract. It’s a best-in-class healthcare package as well as a strong pension,” King Soopers president Joe Kelley said during the grocer’s last negotiation in mid-January.
After months of unresolved conflict, their contract extension expired in January which removed the no-strike clause. Soon after, several stores in the Denver metro and Front Range voted to strike.
The union said the Unfair Labor Practice strike comes after King Soopers allegedly interrogated union members about bargaining and surveilling members in discussions with union staff, refused to give necessary union information, threatened discipline on union members and sent them home for wearing union gear and insisted on taking the $8 million in retiree health benefit funds to pay for wage increases for active workers.
“For months the employer failed to respond in any way to the union’s requests for information on data that relates to pricing and staffing. Some information was provided starting in January, but it is still inadequate,” UFCW Local 7 said.
Meanwhile, King Soopers told FOX31 in a statement on Friday that the National Labor Relations Board never determined King Soopers committed an Unfair Labor Practice during these negotiations.
“The Company holds itself to the highest ethical standard and is confident that the Union’s allegations of Unfair Labor Practices are unfounded. Additionally, the Company believes that the Union’s move to seek a Strike Vote Authorization is premature, given they have not allowed associates to vote on the Company’s Last, Best and Final Offer. The offer includes significant wages investments, along with industry-leading healthcare and a secure pension,” said a King Soopers spokesperson.
This strike comes three years after the King Soopers strike in 2022 when employees walked out and demanded fair treatment, more money, health care benefits, and more. After nine days on strike, the union and the grocer came to an agreement.
