Kings Soopers Workers Will Strike: Union Votes To Walkout

DENVER, CO – Local union members who work at King Soopers and City Markets have voted to strike. More than 90 percent of workers voted to strike, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union.

Organizers of the 12,000 statewide UFCW Local 7 members called the vote over two days, after talks with representatives from King Soopers' parent company Kroger broke down last week. Union members voted at the Denver Tech Center, 4920 S. Syracuse St.

The company runs about 159 grocery stores in Colorado. The last King Soopers strike was in 1996.

The union has said that the company offered unequal pay raises and was stingy on sick leave for employees. The latest company offer "stipulates that workers must wait up to ten years to get paid sick leave" other than emergency hospitalizations, the union said in a statement this week.

"The hard working men and women who handle your produce, slice your meat and prepare your food at King Soopers and City Market deserve access to quality health care and paid, first day, sick leave when they aren't feeling well," said Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7 in a statement earlier in the week.

Signs popped up again at Colorado King Soopers stores advertising for temporary workers, paid $15 an hour, with no benefit. When negotiations broke down in early March, signs advertising for temps were removed after backlash, Westword reported. The starting salary offered to union members by the company is around $14.41, according to the union's website.

Dennis Gibson, president of King Soopers and City Market, said that the grocery market has become more competitive, in an interview with KUNC earlier in the week.

"Despite the transformation occurring in the grocery industry, we continue to make significant investments in our associates," Gibson said in a statement to the station. "We have come to this offer with each of our associates in mind. I am confident when our associates read through the details of this offer they will see we are making significant investments in them."

Gibson told KUNC earlier in the week that the company's offer included "some wage increases, job openings and retirement benefits," the station reported.

"Authorizing strike is a difficult decision for any worker," Cordova said in a statement. "We remain hopeful the company will come to the table with an offer that provides King Soopers and City Market workers with the benefits they deserve and have earned."

Related: King Soopers Strike Appears Imminent: Company, Union Talks Fail
Related: King Soopers Strike Draws Closer: Union, Kroger Can't Make A Deal

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