King Soopers Strike Draws Closer: Union, Kroger Can't Make A Deal

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO – Kroger-owned King Soopers and union negotiators for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 are still not able to come to a deal after the company walked out of a negotiation last week.

UPDATE: Kings Soopers Workers Will Strike: Union Votes To Walkout

Earlier in the week, U.F.C.W. Local 7 workers posted photos of signs appearing in Colorado King Soopers locations advertising for temp workers in case of a strike. The advertised pay for temps is $15 an hour, when the lowest-paid King Soopers associates are paid less than $14.14.

The union called the company's offer "reprehensible."

Since December the union and King Soopers have been trying to hammer out a new agreement. The union declined to renew a temporary contract extension agreed to in January.

A statement from the union last week said the company's proposal "gave a 15 cent or 25 cent an hour raise to only top paid journeymen workers and those like head clerks, but no raise at all for anyone else, which means half of the company's workers would get no raise at all."

After the signs were posted, they were removed, the company said.

"At this time we aren’t seeking temporary workers, and all signs have been removed," King Soopers spokesman Adam Williamson in a statement, as reported in Westword. “The company and the union continue to negotiate. There was progress made over the last two sessions. We know our associates are the heart of our company and our goal with every negotiation is to provide them a competitive compensation package of wages and benefits.”

Thursday is the final scheduled date of negotiations between Kroger and union representatives.

The union represents 12,200 workers, or about half of all 23,000 employees at the Kroger-owned 117 King Soopers locations across Colorado.

King Soopers opened its first grocery store in Arvada in 1947, started by Lloyd King and his sons.

Related: Arvada Origins Of 'King Soopers' Name: Archie Comics

READ MORE in Westword

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