Subject: King Soopers Inc.

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• It's quiet on the potential grocery store strike or lockout front

  The latest contract extension between King Soopers and workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local #7 expired at midnight on May 30. But as of this writing, at least, nothing much has happened. It's been clear for weeks that neither management nor labor really want a strike -- and the main sticking point in regard to another contract extension involves its length; the union would like ten more weeks to talk, while King Soopers prefers a June 15 date. Hence, the tw

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• Management, union really don't want a grocery strike

  The decision by employees at King Soopers and Safeway to keep working amid continuing negotiations with management through at least May 30 despite the fact that their respective contracts have expired indicates an understanding that striking amid an economic downturn is a worst-case scenario for all concerned. That doesn't mean a work stoppage is an impossibility. But the last thing grocers want these days is to be viewed by customers as hard-hearted and uncaring -- something the folks at Unit

  May 11, 2009

• If there's a grocery strike, what will you do?

  A Flickr photoWorkers picket a California Albertsons in 2003 Have you worked out your supermarket strike plan? If you haven't, now might be a good time. Although the corporate execs and lawyers at Safeway, King Soopers and Albertsons are still negotiating with the familiar, name-tagged faces who ring you up at your local grocery -- and their union overlords -- that could change on May 30, when a twenty-day extension of the current union contract expires. At that point: 1) Everyone involved

  May 22, 2009

• Grocery union ratchets up the drama as another contract deadline approaches

  The latest deadline in talks between United Food & Commercial Workers Local #7 and representatives of King Soopers stores is midnight tomorrow -- and while neither side seems to want a work stoppage to begin one second later, there's disagreement over how long an negotiations extension should be. The union wants ten weeks; King Soopers prefers June 15, the date already agreed upon by Safeway workers also represented by UFCW #7. Both stores have agreed to lock out workers if employees at the ot

  May 29, 2009

• Grocery workers, management in potential-strike staredown

  An image from the AlwaysHereForColorado.com website. Just as they did in early May, King Soopers employees rejected the company's latest contract offer. In a press release, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 7, characterized the margin of defeat as overwhelming and urged "the corporation to return to the bargaining table and offer them a fair deal that doesn't include wage, pension, and health-care cuts." That line was followed by a (probably) canned quote from King Soopers

  June 16, 2009

• King Soopers avoiding nuclear option in grocery-worker contract negotiations

  Once it became clear that the overwhelming majority of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local No. 7 members across the Front Range had rejected King Soopers' latest contract offer, the company had the option to put further negotiations in the freezer section. Instead, King Soopers spokeswoman Diane Mulligan made it clear that the firm will return to the bargaining table rather than locking out employees -- a move that would escalate the situation into outright ugliness qu

  June 18, 2009

• King Soopers looking to defend the blitz

  As noted yesterday, King Soopers is avoiding the nuclear option when it comes to negotiations with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Local No. 7, rapidly agreeing to go back to the bargaining table as opposed to locking out employees who overwhelming rejected the retailers latest contract offer. But the firm isn't above a little confrontation to show it means business. Hence, yesterday's federal court hearing, during which King Soopers' attorneys asked a judge to stop UFCW r

  June 19, 2009

• Grocery workers claiming victory in two legal faceoffs

  An image from the AlwaysHereForColorado.com website. Last week, King Soopers asked a federal court judge to stop United Food and Commercial Workers International Local No. 7 representatives from talking to staffers while they're on the job -- a tactic referred to in press accounts as "blitzing." But clever terminology aside, it's the UFCW, not the grocery chain, that's claiming a court victory on the subject. A union press release issued on June 23 declares that "a federal judge today upheld th

  June 24, 2009

• Union attacks pension cuts in latest grocery-chain contract offer

  The past few days have been relatively quiet ones in regard to the continuing standoff between union-represented grocery workers and chains such as King Soopers and Safeway over a new contract. However, the latest entry on the Twiter feed linked to AlwaysHereForColorado.com, a site launched by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7, aims to maintain troop solidarity via a chart that outlines estimated pension reductions if the latest proposal passed, with dips of be

  July 7, 2009

• Grocery-workers union recalls Soopers' first King

  The contract dispute involving workers at King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons has been quiet of late, with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7 seeking to maintain member loyalty during this period via releases about, for example, pension reductions that would go into effect if the store's latest contract offer was accepted. Now, with negotiations between UFCW and Safeway set to restart today, the union-bankrolled AlwaysHereForColorado.com site is claiming philosophi

  July 14, 2009

• Zero progress evident in grocery-worker negotiations

  An icon from the AlwaysHereForColorado.com site.​In early May, it looked like a strike against King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons by union employees was a real possibility. Since then, however, the situation has dragged out and out and out, with continued extensions creating little pressure on either side to get something done. Earlier this month, the chains and labor reps agreed to push the contract deadline to September 12. And while talks are underway on the Western Slope, where worke

  August 21, 2009

• ProgressNow Colorado prepares for a grocery-store strike

  "We're not asking you not to eat. Really."​ Negotiators for union employees of King Soopers and Safeway are heading back to the bargaining table yet again in an attempt to break a contract stalemate that's dragged on for months -- and in an indication that things are getting serious, the left-leaning ProgressNow Colorado organization has created a searchable map showing users places they can shop in their general vicinity without crossing a picket line in case talks break down. In the 8020

  October 20, 2009

• Read the letter from a King Soopers exec threatening a lockout if union workers strike Safeway

  ​Yesterday, in the wake of a negotiating breakdown between Safeway and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, King Soopers employees were given a letter attributed to Dave Savage, vice president of retail operations for the firm. The document accuses the union of "recklessly pursuing a course that will lead to a strike or a lockout" -- and then, after enumerating several of what Savage sees as indications that pickets are about to go up, he writes, "If there is a strike against Safewa

  October 23, 2009

• Will ProgressNow Colorado help nonunion stores more than union employees in a grocery strike?

  If these signs start popping up, ProgressNow will be prepared.​Last week, the liberal group ProgressNow Colorado created a searchable map designed to help customers of King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons find other places to shop in the event of a grocery-store strike. Shortly thereafter, a letter to King Soopers employees noted that most of those options were nonunion shops. But ProgressNow executive director Bobby Clark doesn't see this as a contradictory message. "Our intent here is n

  October 27, 2009

• Read the letter about King Soopers' "last, best and final" offer to grocery workers

  ​Today, King Soopers and Safeway are expected to submit their "last, best and final" offer to grocery workers. Don't know much about the details yet, or whether the proposal will be notably different from the ones members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 have roundly rejected time and again, leading to repeated breakdowns in negotiations. But the union has already set up a series of votes, beginning on Wednesday: Click here for times and locations in Denver and beyond. I

  November 16, 2009

• Not all grocery workers sold on "ratification bonus" gift cards

  Paper or plastic?​Still no official response from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 about this week's "last, best and final" contract proposals from King Soopers and Safeway. But several employees posting on the Facebook page linked to the union's AlwaysHereForColorado.com site don't seem to have been won over by the most unusual aspect of the offers: "bonus ratification" gift cards of between $150 and $1,000, depending on position. "The gift card is a BRIBE! They are taking your

  November 20, 2009

• Grocery workers to begin voting on stores' "last, best and final" contract offer

  ​ The 17,000 grocery workers of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union could begin receiving ballots to vote on Safeway and King Soopers' "last, best and final" contract offer as soon as tomorrow. A yes vote would end seven months of bargaining. The ballots are scheduled to be mailed today, says union spokeswoman Laura Chapin, and the entire voting process is expected to take two weeks. Throughout negotiations, the grocery chains and the union have butted heads over pay rais

  November 27, 2009

• Jobbed: King Soopers scabs, uh, replacement workers

  ​Having trouble finding work? You're not alone. Follow Jobbed every week as we troll for the weird, the wacky and the worst of what the recession-era world of job ads has to offer. The Job, as posted online: Temporary Replacement Clerk at King Soopers Responsibilities: King Soopers will be hiring temporary replacement clerks as a precautionary measure due to a potential labor dispute with the UFCW Local 7. Qualifications: A beating heart (just kidding, sort of). You MUST bring documents

  December 10, 2009

• What happens next after grocery workers contract vote?

  ​Update, December 17, 3:21 p.m.: King Soopers has issued an official response to the contract ratification; still nothing from Safeway. Look below for the latest. On Tuesday, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 announced a surprising split vote over the latest contract offers for area grocery employees: King Soopers staffers accepted the deal, while their peers at Safeway rejected it. In the twenty hours since then, representatives of the companies have offered no comments on this

  December 17, 2009

• Safeway and King Soopers workers vote on "win-win situation"

  ​For much of the past year, contract negotiations at Colorado King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons stores have dragged on amid an atmosphere riper than an unrefrigerated meat section. But at last, a peaceful solution seems near. Last week, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 and Albertsons reached an agreement on a new contract, with employees in Grand Junction voting to ratify it as well on Tuesday. And today, Safeway workers who rejected the original pact, as well as folks fr

  February 4, 2010