Union Files Suit Against King Soopers, City Market
In a recently filed lawsuit, UFCW Local 7 claims that The Kroger Co. banners King Soopers and City Market are in violation of an agreement the parties signed at the end of a strike this past February.
During the 11-day labor action at 79 King Soopers stores in Colorado, union workers raised concerns about alleged unfair labor practices at the chain. King Soopers and the union came to an agreement that ended the strike, and both sides committed to return to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith, with the union saying it wouldn’t take any more strike actions for 100 days and the employer saying it wouldn’t unilaterally add any changes to the contract, according to the suit.
“We agreed to end the strike and return to work and have labor peace for 100 days,” noted Kim Cordova, president of Denver-based UFCW Local 7. “The employer’s side of that agreement was that they would not implement any new terms without our agreement, lock out workers, and would negotiate in good faith. They have failed in that commitment.”
UFCW Local 7 contends that these alleged violations have led to the employer not considering the union’s proposals and issuing ultimatums that would expire in April – months ahead of the end of the 100-day stand-down agreement.
“The employer needs to address issues of staffing, safety, raises, benefits and other topics,” added Cordova. “King Soopers has been acting in the same manner they did before our strike – a my-way- or-the highway approach to negotiations. That is not a negotiation. That is an ultimatum – one of the many things they can’t do during this good-faith bargaining process.”
She added that “this lawsuit is about ensuring King Soopers is held accountable for failing to honor the agreement they made.”
At press time, Kroger had not yet responded to a request for comment by Progressive Grocer.
Also back in February, King Soopers filed a federal lawsuit against UFCW Local 7, alleging that, in furtherance of a “union-driven agenda that prioritizes out-of-state special interests over the hardworking people who call [Colorado] home,” it unlawfully forced the company to bargain with labor unions that don’t represent the grocery store chain’s associates. UFCW Local 7 has described the suit as “frivolous.”
Local 7, the largest private-sector union in Colorado, is affiliated with the Washington, D.C.-based United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents more than 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada, and is one of the largest private-sector unions in North America. UFCW members work in such industries as retail food, food processing, agriculture, retail sales and health care.
King Soopers/City Market employs more than 22,300 associates who serve customers daily at locations throughout Colorado. The Kroger Family of Companies’ nearly 420,000 associates serve more than 11 million customers daily through a digital shopping experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names. The Cincinnati-based grocer is No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named Kroger one of its Retailers of the Century.
