Colorado grocery workers union announces plans to strike at 3 stores
With the clock winding down toward Saturday night's deadline for new contract negotiations, a Colorado union has announced locations where grocery employees are set to walk off the job on Sunday in protest.
The strike will start at Safeway/Albertsons stores in Estes Park, Fountain and Pueblo, plus a Denver distribution center, according to a press release from the United Food and Commercial Workers Local7.
The union issued a required 72-hour strike notice to the grocery chain Wednesday night following a negotiations session which failed to produce a new contract agreement or an extension to negotiations. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. Saturday. The current contract expired in January. Union members approved the strike in a vote last week - with 99% approving the strike action, per the union.
More union members who work at stores in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, and Longmont are expected to vote Monday and Tuesday on whether to strike or not.
The union went on strike against 77 Colorado stores in the King Soopers and Kroger grocery chain in February. The two sides agreed to continue negotiations and end the walkout a week and a half later, and a "limited" contract agreement was reached in May.
But that agreement came after the union filed a lawsuit against King Soopers in April, claiming it violated the agreement it and the union signed at the end of the strike.
King Soopers, in return, filed two countersuits of its own against the union.
"I wish that Safeway/Albertsons had taken negotiations more seriously, obeyed the law, and respected the workers who make the stores run, but wishing doesn't make it so," stated Kim Cordova, President of UFCW 7, in the union's press release. "We are fighting for better stores so that shoppers and workers alike can have a better experience. Instead of working with the union, Safeway/Albertsons has instead put its faith in its supposed competitor King Soopers and City Market in an attempt to drive down healthcare and pension benefits for active workers and retirees alike."
The earlier King Soopers strike started at 77 stores on its first day. Local7 said the coming strike against Safeway stores would be smaller in comparison in its first day, but would expand should the strike continue.
"It's too bad that things have come to this point with Safeway/Albertsons, but the ongoing unfair labor practices, including bad faith bargaining, as well as surveilling and threatening workers, have given us no choice but to strike", Monique Trujillo, a Safeway worker from Fountain, stated in the union's press release.
A Safeway spokesperson responded to the union's strike announcement with a statement:
"Safeway in Colorado remains committed to productive discussions with UFCW Local 7. We respect the rights of workers to engage in collective bargaining and are negotiating in good faith to achieve an agreement. Our focus remains on providing exceptional service to our customers and fostering a positive working environment for our associates. All Safeway and Albertsons stores in Colorado are open and ready to continue serving our communities."
The two chains announced a proposed buy-out in 2023, with Kroger acquiring Albertsons for $24.6 billion. The Colorado Attorney General's Office went to court last year to prevent it. A federal judge ruled in December to block the merger.
