Employees at King Soopers stores in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties will strike, impacting 77 stores in the state and covering about 10,000 workers. King Soopers in Colorado Springs and Pueblo have also authorized strikes and may join at a later date, the union added on February 6, but four City Market locations haven't voted yet.
The striking workers have alleged unfair labor practices committed by Kroger. According to union president Kim Cordova, they chose a two-week timeframe to ensure customers would understand worker concerns and management would have time to respond.
With a two-week timeframe, February 20 will be the final day of the strike. After that employees say they will return to work, but are prepared to hold another strike in the future if they don't get a suitable agreement.
King Soopers and City Market employees have been negotiating a renewed union contract with King Soopers since last fall, but negotiations have stalled. On January 29 and 30, unionized workers at Kroger-owned stores across a handful of Colorado locations held votes on the strike, with over 95 percent of Denver King Soopers workers voting in favor; statewide, 96 percent of workers voted to authorize a strike.
Why King Soopers Workers Are Striking
UFCW Local 7 has a 37-member bargaining committee led by Cordova representing 12,000 King Soopers and City Market workers across the state. Workers want their new contract to address staffing issues, improve health-care benefits and increase wages to match Colorado's cost of living. In addition to alleging the company hasn’t met those conditions, UFCW Local 7 says King Soopers has committed unfair labor practices violations in the negotiation process.Specific allegations include illegal interrogation and surveillance of union members, a refusal to provide sales data to the union, threatening or disciplining employees for wearing union buttons and other union-related gear, and proposing to take away $8 million in retiree health benefit funds in exchange for higher worker wages.
According to Kroger, the National Labor Relations Board has not yet ruled on the union’s allegations, and the company believes the allegations to be unfounded. Kroger also questions why the union hasn't engaged since the company issued its “last, best and final” offer before the strike was authorized. That proposal includes “$4.50/hour [raises] over the life of the contract for Top Rate associates (excluding courtesy clerks), department heads and Pharmacy Techs," according to Kroger.
Kroger said it would provide affordable health care, keep pensions for workers and hold meetings about staffing concerns along with workplace violence prevention training. Additionally, the company offered to add sanitation clerk and hourly manager roles to at least twenty stores over the next four years.
However, workers say those terms do not represent actual improvements to safety standards or staffing issues in stores. According to the union, the company’s proposal required employees to decide whether to lose health-care benefits now or in the future rather than preserving benefits. Additionally, workers say the contract would actually cut wages for some employees and allow Kroger to outsource some union jobs to gig workers.
