Judge denies King Soopers temporary restraining order on picketing
UPDATE 2/14/2025: According to the union, a judge "largely rejected" King Soopers request for temporary restraining orders. The union says the judge did rule that picketers can't block delivery trucks and can't put up tents or canopies.
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - UFCW Local 7, the union representing King Soopers workers, says the company has filed a temporary restraining order against them.
Relations between the two groups have been contentious for weeks and have recently come to a boiling point after they could not come to contract agreements and workers at select stores voted to strike.
King Soopers issued a release on Tuesday, Feb. 11, addressing the restraining orders, saying "King Soopers remains committed to serving our communities, supporting our associates, and ensuring a safe and welcoming shopping experience for all. While we respect our associates’ right to engage in a lawful and peaceful strike, recent picketing activities have created unsafe conditions. To protect the well-being of everyone, we are seeking a temporary restraining order to help ensure our stores remain safe."
The release also said, "King Soopers is dedicated to good-faith negotiations and encourages continued dialogue to find a balanced and fair solution. In the meantime, we ask that picketing activities be conducted in a manner that prioritizes safety."
As of right now, Pueblo stores are on strike, joining other stores across the Denver metro area. Colorado Springs stores have voted to strike, but union officials say they are still under contract which currently prevents them from taking to the picket line.
Last week, King Soopers filed a lawsuit against the union. In the complaint, the company alleged that the union had forced them to bargain collectively with unions representing non-King Soopers workers who don't even work in the state of Colorado.
Meanwhile, the union has alleged that the company has broken the law in several ways, including that they allegedly interrogated and surveilled union workers during bargaining.
In this latest turn of events, the union says King Soopers has filed a temporary restraining order in an effort to prevent picketing from outside stores.
"This TRO [temporary restraining order] represents nothing more than another attempt to silence and intimidate 10,000 grocery store workers for exercising their right to fight for better staffing, better health care, and more safety and against the Company’s Unfair Labor Practices," wrote a statement from the union.
King Soopers previously sent the following statement to KRDO13 following the strikes:
"We want to be clear—the Union’s call for a strike is not about wages, healthcare, or pensions. It is based on allegations we believe lack merit and have yet to be validated by the NLRB or any court. We are deeply concerned for our associates, who are being misled into a work stoppage that doesn’t serve their best interests. This also harms our customers, who will face higher prices at Safeway—often 10-12% more—or have to shop at non-union competitors.”
-Joe Kelley, President of King Soopers
Despite a temporary restraining order being filed, union workers don't seem to have any plans to stop picketing soon. Union President Kim Cordova said, "We were on the strike lines today, we will be on the strike lines tomorrow, and we continue to urge King Soopers to stop these unfair labor practices."
