King Soopers workers approve Unfair Labor Practice strikeKing Soopers workers approve Unfair Labor Practice strike

Union grocery workers at Kroger-owned King Soopers stores in Colorado have voted to authorize an Unfair Labor Practices strike, according to an announcement on Thursday from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 7.

The 23,000-member union, which represents some 12,000 grocery workers at King Soopers and City Market stores in Colorado, said members voted overwhelmingly to approve the strike. 

A Kroger spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The vote included unionized workers from bargaining units in metro Denver, Boulder, Parker, and Broomfield.

UFCW Local 7 said in a press release that 96% of employees in the Denver Meat Bargaining Unit voted to strike as did 96% of those in the Denver Retail Bargaining Unit. 

Kroger could see more strikes headed its way, as workers in Colorado Springs and Pueblo are also set to vote on strike authorization on Friday and Saturday.

“There are multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges we have filed against King Soopers over the last several months. These range from illegal intimidation of workers by the employer to the employer’s failure to provide needed information on staffing to allow for the union to prepare a comprehensive proposal to resolve the staffing crisis in King Soopers’ stores,” UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova said in the press release. 

She added that negotiators with the grocery chain “insisted on robbing retiree health care benefits to fund wage increases for workers today.” That proposal entails using over $25 million from the union’s health care plans to pay for wage increases.

The union has also argued that the stores are understaffed.

UFCW Local 7 workers are asking, among other things, for a wage increase of $4.50 an hour over the course of four years to all employees, while Kroger proposes giving the raises to top-rate associates, department heads, and pharmacy techs.