King Soopers union sets first strike vote for Front Range stores, which could involve 10,000 workers [View all]

Source: Colorado Sun

If workers vote to approve a strike, the walkout will involve more stores and employees than the nine-day strike in 2022.

Tamara Chuang
6:12 PM MST on Jan 20, 2025Updated 9:11 AM MST on Jan 22, 2025

Four days after their contract expired, the union representing thousands of King Soopers employees in Colorado on Monday scheduled the first vote to ask members to authorize a strike Jan. 29 in Westminster.

A second vote is set for Jan. 30 in Greenwood Village. More are expected. United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7 said they’re starting in the Denver area because of the larger union presence and because that’s where contracts first expired Jan. 5. Negotiations were extended until Jan. 16 but King Soopers’ last offer was rejected Friday.

“They’re proposing wage increases that are not across the board. Not only are they inadequate, but they’re different based on the ZIP code,” said Kim Cordova, Local 7’s president. “The company is charging the same price to a customer but the workers are going to be paid less. That’s unacceptable to us.”

The company’s proposed wages — increasing up to $4.50 an hour over a four-year contract — would apply “to a very few select people,” Cordova said. Others would see much less, she said. Plus, she’s concerned about health benefits, inadequate staffing, competition from third-party vendors and worker safety.


Kim Cordova, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, during a rally in January 2022 as grocery store workers picketed outside a King Soopers store in east Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Read more: https://coloradosun.com/2025/01/20/king-soopers-union-strike-vote-front-range-denver-pueblo-colorado-springs/