First Skirmish: Ten Thousand Grocery Workers Strike Kroger

Workers at King Soopers in Parker, Colorado, picketed at their store. Ten thousand grocery workers in Colorado have walked out just in time for Valentine’s Day. Photo: UFCW Local 7.

https://labornotes.org/2025/02/first-skirmish-ten-thousand-grocery-workers-strike-kroger

Ten thousand members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 are on strike all across Colorado. They work for King Soopers grocery stores, owned by Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the U.S.

When their contracts expired January 16, they voted by 96 percent to authorize a two-week-long unfair labor practice strike, including high-traffic Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day weekends.

Even with scabs staffing the stores, these holiday weekends should give the boss a headache. Amanda Bateman, a Local 7 steward and a seafood department head at a store in Colorado Springs, said customers have trouble finding shopping carts during these times, and it’s a challenge to keep the shelves stocked.

For Valentine’s Day, the floral department and general merchandise (which is in charge of candy) get hit hard. “Entire aisles just get wiped out, like at the beginning of Covid,” she said.

FULL story at link above.