Colorado Grocery Workers Vote to Authorize “ULP” Strike
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2025
CONTACT: Monique Palacios
mpalacios@ufcw7.com | 303-425-0897 ext. 403
Denver, CO – After two days of vote meetings at which union grocery store workers for Kroger-owned King Soopers were deciding whether or not to approve an Unfair Labor Practice strike, the results are clear. Workers voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike and authorize UFCW local 7 leadership to call the Unfair Labor Practice strike. The exact times, dates and locations of the strikes will be determined later and will be announced to workers and the public in advance of any strike.
The vote meetings held on Wednesday and Thursday were for workers in the Metro Denver, Boulder, Parker, and Broomfield bargaining units. 95% of workers in the Denver Meat Bargaining Unit voted to strike. 96% of workers in the Denver Retail Bargaining Unit voted to strike. Additional votes will be taking place for workers in Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Friday and Saturday. Those votes could authorize strikes in additional locations.
“There are multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges we have filed against King Soopers over the last several months. These range from illegal intimidation of workers by the employer to the employer’s failure to provide needed information on staffing to allow for the union to prepare a comprehensive proposal to resolve the staffing crisis in King Soopers’ stores,” said Kim Cordova, President of UFCW local 7. Cordova added, “Kroger negotiators have illegally insisted on robbing retiree health care benefits to fund wage increases for workers today. Sadly, this Company’s targeting of fixed-income retirees and other vulnerable populations only compounds its history of targeting consumers with predatory pricing.”
“I have worked at King Soopers for 7 years, and we have been in negotiations since October to reach a new contract. Staffing in our stores is at an unsustainable level. Workers are asked to do the job of two or three people leading to bare shelves and long lines. Kroger has prevented us from reaching a contract as a result of their Unfair Labor Practices. The Company has left us no choice other than to call a strike,” said Conor Hall, a Deli Clerk from Boulder, Colorado. “We hope that this gives us an opportunity to raise our concerns to the public because they have been falling on deaf ears with the employer.”
UFCW Local 7 represents 23,000 union workers across Colorado. 12,000 of those workers are employed at King Soopers and City Market stores. The timing of any strike and locations for where a strike would occur will be announced at a later date.
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Local 7, the largest Union in Colorado, is affiliated with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union which represents over 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada, and is one of the largest private-sector Unions in North America. UFCW members work in a wide range of industries, including retail food, food processing, agriculture, retail sales, and health care.