The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 said union members in metro Denver and Boulder have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against King Soopers. The timing and locations of strikes will be announced publicly before any labor action starts, the union said.
The union announced the results Thursday night after two days of voting by King Soopers workers in the Denver area and Boulder. Votes are scheduled in Colorado Springs Friday and in Pueblo Saturday.
Staffing levels and funding for health care benefits are among the issues that led union bargainers to reject what King Soopers called its “last, best and final offer.” The union’s contracts with the company expired Jan. 17.
Joe Kelley, president of Kroger-owned King Soopers and City Market in Colorado, called on UFCW Local 7 to allow union members to vote on the contract. Kim Cordova, union president, said the bargaining committee, which is made up of employees, rejected the proposal.
King Soopers and the union have accused each other of unfair labor practices.
“Kroger negotiators have illegally insisted on robbing retiree health care benefits to fund wage increases for workers today,” Cordova said in a statement. “Sadly, this Company’s targeting of fixed-income retirees and other vulnerable populations only compounds its history of targeting consumers with predatory pricing.”
Kelley said in a recent interview that King Soopers gave the union a comprehensive offer in December that included pay, health care and pension proposals while the union hasn’t made an offer on staffing levels as promised.
But Cordova said the company hasn’t provided the information the union needs for its proposal on staffing. She said inadequate staffing has led to long checkout lines, departments being forced to close early and a lack of workers to stock shelves and ensure that prices get changed in the computer systems and in the stores.
The union said 95% of the workers in the meat bargaining unit and 96% of workers in the Denver retail bargaining unit authorized a strike in votes held Wednesday and Thursday.
The last strike against Denver-area King Soopers stores was in January 2022. The walkout lasted 10 days.
The latest contract dispute follows a failed merger between Kroger and Albertsons, which owns Safeway. The $24.6 billion plan to combine the two supermarket chains collapsed after a Washington state court and a federal court in Oregon in separate cases halted the proposed merger.
The union vigorously opposed the consolidation, saying it would harm workers, customers and local farmers and ranchers by eroding competition in the marketplace. UFCW Local is still in contract negotiations with Albertsons.
