Colorado King Soopers union workers threaten to go on strike

The union that represents workers at King Soopers, one of the largest grocery chains in Colorado, says they may go on strike after contract negotiations failed with the company.

Liz Barr has worked at King Soopers for the past 14 years as a floral manager and is also a representative of the union, UFCW Local 7. She says thousands are ready to hit the picket lines, “I can tell you that the employees are ready to fight, they are ready to stand up for themselves.”

There are 10 King Soopers locations in Colorado Springs and two in Pueblo. Barr estimates the combined stores employ 1,700 workers. On Thursday the union and King Soopers met to negotiate.

Workers are asking for wage increases, better health benefits and more. However, Barr says during the talks, representatives with the grocery store chain walked out. “King Soopers walked out of negotiations,” Barr says, “Refused to allow us to respond and hear our response to those proposals.”

However, the company says that’s not true. KRDO reached out to a King Soopers representative for Colorado and they gave us this statement:

“We want to set the record straight on labor negotiations. It’s unfortunate the facts have been misrepresented. Our associates and customers deserve the truth. Our team has made themselves available to continue negotiating with the union. As negotiations continue our stores and associates will serve our communities as they always have. To be clear our offer makes significant investments in our associates:

Increase in wages Incremental investments to the employee pension plan Continued investment to best in class healthcare at no additional cost We know our associates are the heart of King Soopers/City Market and we will continue to negotiate with them and our communities in mind.”

When we asked Barr about their response she said King Soopers’ proposal does offer some of the things they are asking for, but it’s not enough. “They are claiming that our proposals are unreasonable and they have been completely disrespectful,” says Barr, “They are not taking the workers seriously and their needs seriously.”

Barr isn’t able to tell how long this could last but says she and others are prepared. With 12,000 union members statewide, if a strike does happen King Soopers will have a lot of spots to fill.