Grocery workers at King Soopers stores from Boulder to Parker voted overwhelmingly to strike over unfair labor practices, the union representing them said Thursday night.
No strike date was set. The United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7 said that dates and times will be announced later before a strike begins.
Three years ago, the union conducted a planned walkout for nine days after contracts expired in early January. But back then, only stores in the Denver area participated because their contracts had expired.
Now that it’s late January, more contracts have ended. Workers in Colorado Springs and Pueblo are scheduled to vote Friday and Saturday whether to authorize a strike. Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland contracts expire Feb. 15.
Approval would just add more stores to a potential strike, union officials said. Local 7 represents 12,000 King Soopers and City Market workers in Colorado.
Before the first vote was held, King Soopers told the union that its “last, best and final offer” would increase the average hourly wage to $29.48, a $4.50 per hour increase for the top-rate clerks. The grocer’s proposal expires Friday, Jan. 31.
Local 7 officials have called the offer “unacceptable” because increases are not across the board, especially across the state.
In a news release, UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova complained of severe staffing shortages at area stores with no proposal to solve the problem. She also called out corporate negotiators for “robbing retiree health care benefits to fund wage increases for workers today.”
Kroger owns 118 King Soopers and 32 City Market stores in Colorado. Not all are unionized.