Colorado grocery workers could be on the verge of a strike.
Safeway employees in cities including Pueblo, Estes Park, Fountain, Salida, Vail, Grand Junction, Fort Morgan and Steamboat voted to authorize a strike if contract talks with management fail, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7 said in a social media post. Employees along the Front Range will vote next, according to the union.
No strike is planned yet. The union has to give 72 hours' notice before striking, which hasn’t happened.
Safeway workers are threatening a strike at the same time as contract negotiations between workers and King Soopers are coming to a head. King Soopers and its workers have until June 8 to hammer out a deal.
Safeway, owned by Albertsons, and Kroger-owned King Soopers are the two biggest grocery chains in Colorado, not including Walmart. Kroger owns 148 King Soopers and City Market stores, while Albertsons operates 105 Safeway and Albertsons locations.
King Soopers workers have walked off the job after contract negotiations broke down twice in the past three years. Most recently, about 10,000 employees in and around Denver went on strike in February in what the union called an Unfair Labor Practices strike.
That strike went on for nearly two weeks until a temporary deal was reached that paused the labor dispute for 100 days. That temporary deal expired at the end of last month, potentially paving the way for another strike.
