Carol McMillian: The reason we are out on the picket line today is because of the company’s unfair labor practices. That is our dispute with King Soopers.

Fight Back!: Can you go into a little more detail about what those unfair labor practices are?

McMillian: The unfair labor practices that the company is participating in right now is, first of all they have attempted to hire [people at] temporary wages at $18 per hour when regular KS employees are hired at minimum wage. That’s a contract violation.

There’s a lot, it's a whole lot. The company is negotiating in bad faith. They’re presenting one contract to the members but there’s more to the contract in negotiations. They’re not being transparent in their negotiations.

Fight Back!: What is different about this decision to strike compared to other contract renewals?

McMillian: What's different between this contract renewals and others has to do with the economy right now, store conditions. There’s a lot of things involved in why it's different right now. It's a whole, totally different atmosphere.

Fight Back!: Can you speak to what that atmosphere is and what the relationship with corporate has been in the past year that has led to this decision to strike?

McMillian: We’ve been through two years, going into three years, of a global pandemic. Workers are overworked, underpaid, stressed out, sick, tired, very very tired, feeling neglected and disrespected by KS.

Fight Back!: What are you hoping to win out of this strike when it's all said and done?

McMillian: At the end of the strike, we just would like the company to respect us, protect us, and pay us. Our goals are fair wages, affordable healthcare, and a safe working environment.

#DenverCO #PeoplesStruggles #strike #Strikes #DenverKingSoopers #Kroger

The announcement follows weeks of bargaining between the union and King Soopers, in which the company “tried to prevent the workers from standing together with each other in the stores, refused to produce information critical to these negotiations, and failed to bargain in good faith with the union” according to UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova.

Like many workers, King Soopers employees have struggled to support themselves amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic while the company posted record profits.

The strike will involve approximately 8400 workers at 78 stores and will mark the first time Colorado grocery workers have gone on strike since 1996.

A strike at a major grocery chain like King Soopers is a sign of the increased militancy workers have displayed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the last six months, there were major nationwide strikes at Nabisco, John Deere, and Kellogg’s, as well as a narrowly-avoided strike by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). Then in November, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters elected new militant leadership in the form of the Teamsters United Slate led by Sean O’Brien and Fred Zuckerman. All over the country, workers are fed up and they’re fighting back.

#DenverCO #PeoplesStruggles #UnitedFoodAndCommercialWorkers #Strikes #DenverKingSoopers

UFCW and King Soopers, a subsidiary of the Kroger supermarket chain, negotiated for almost three months before the company walked out of negotiations on March 8. This wasn’t the first time the company had shown bad faith during the bargaining process, having previously walked out of negotiations numerous times in the past month. Additionally, management has engaged in union-busting tactics such as encouraging union members to resign their membership, as well as calling the police on union leaders for communicating bargaining updates to fellow members.

Throughout negotiations the union had been asking for increased base pay, first day paid sick leave, and an elimination of the two-tier system which discriminates against workers hired after 2005 by providing them with less pay and fewer benefits.

The company has ignored UFCW’s proposals and instead made a derisory counter-offer that would result in no pay raises for nearly half of its 12,200 workers. It would also mean decreased benefits and increased cost for healthcare, no pay raises or equal access to healthcare for courtesy clerks, who are disproportionately disabled, and inadequate funding of the company pension fund, putting retired workers’ pensions at risk. The company made this meager offer despite the fact that Kroger, King Sooper’s parent company, made more than $122 billion in profits nationwide last year.

The union membership has voted to authorize a strike, but workers won’t walk of the job until UFCW leadership officially calls the strike. The strike vote, backed by a large majority of the membership, may have strengthened the union’s position in any future bargaining.

“Please be advised that the King Soopers Meat and Retail Denver Bargaining Unit membership has overwhelmingly authorized the union to call a strike and reject King Soopers’ concessionary proposals. I encourage you to return to the bargaining table and seriously consider the workers’ proposals for a fair and livable contract,” stated UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova.

The overwhelming support for a strike authorization comes at a time of resurgence of union militancy all over the country. Just last month, Denver teachers stuck for better pay and conditions and had many of their demands met after only three days on the picket line. The authorization of a strike for King Soopers workers continues the fight for better pay and conditions in Denver and is a part of the struggle to maintain working class living standards across the country.

#DenverCO #PeoplesStruggles #strike #UFCW #Strikes #DenverKingSoopers