Judge Rejects Kroger Request for Restraining Order to Stop Picketing; Limited Order Issued to Ensure Delivery Trucks are not Blocked and Preventing Tents/Structures
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2025
CONTACT: Monique Palacios
mpalacios@ufcw7.com | 303-425-0897 ext. 403
Denver, CO – A Denver judge today largely rejected an attempt by King Soopers to silence the voices of striking workers. The ULP strike will continue and the workers’ voices on the picket line will continue to be heard at stores across the state. Most of the claims made by King Soopers were unproven or were for legally protected activities.
The overwhelming majority of King Soopers’ requests were denied. According to the Court, King Soopers asked for a sweeping injunction to severely limit our picketing activity – describing the request as seeking – in short – to restrict any picketing activity the Company finds inconvenient and distracting. The Court soundly rejected these requests.
However, the Judge did order that picketers cannot physically block delivery trucks. The Judge also ordered that picketers cannot erect temporary structures (tents, canopies, etc.) or place piles of trash on sidewalks such that they impede either traffic or pedestrian access to the store.
The Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Strike began last Thursday February 6th. Since then, thousands of grocery store workers, joined by family, community and shoppers have held their picket lines outside 77 stores and additional stores in Pueblo after the strikes expanded there.
“Our ULP strike was announced after the grocery store members voted by 96% in late January and early February to authorize the strike. And then they have followed up their vote with 10,000 workers going out on strike and on picket lines to get the message of King Soopers’ unfair labor practices to shoppers and the public,” stated Kim Cordova, President of UFCW Local 7.
The request for an injunction was the second lawsuit in as many weeks filed by King Soopers. The company’s legal action was an attempt to both silence workers and even prevent them from trying to keep warm on the picket line. Instead of stopping the Unfair Labor Practices that are the foundation of the strike, King Soopers doubled-down on their cowardly and unsuccessful attempts to intimidate, surveil, and otherwise silence workers. King Soopers’ distractions are still just that, distractions. We are hopeful that the company will finally get the basic messages we have been telling them since October – get serious with bargaining, stop the unfair labor practices, and address the goals of the bargain that would solve the staffing crisis that impacts workers as well as shoppers.
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Local 7, the largest private-sector 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.