King Soopers workers in the Denver area will vote on whether to authorize a strike after contract negotiations failed.
Votes are scheduled for January 29 in Westminster and the following day in Greenwood Village. King Soopers made what it called its “last, best and final offer” to the workers’ union last week. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 rejected it.
“It is unfortunate that the negotiations have come to this,” UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova said in a statement Friday. “We started meeting with the company in October with clear goals of necessary wage increases so workers could afford to live in our state, maintain decent health and retirement benefits, and resolve a staffing crisis that is causing daily strife for workers and customers alike. The company’s proposal fails on all fronts.”
The company said it bargained in good faith. Its last offer included increases of $4.50 per hour for top-rate associates, department heads and pharmacy techs; continued pension investment; and adding new roles like sanitation clerks and hourly managers to at least 20 stores over the next four years.
Union leadership contends King Soopers’ proposals don’t include meaningful action to address staffing shortages; permit the company to outsource union jobs to gig workers; take money from health care reserves to fund wage increases; and eliminate seniority-based scheduling protections.
King Soopers workers went on strike three years ago and won significant concessions from management, including raises of as much as $5.99 per hour.
