ULP Strike Press Conference – High Noon on Day One
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2025
CONTACT: Monique Palacios
mpalacios@ufcw7.com | 303-425-0897 ext. 403
Denver, CO – The UFCW local 7 union grocery store workers’ strike, as announced earlier this week, will begin on Thursday morning at 5 AM. Our union will hold a noon-time event and press conference to update the public and the media on the strike. Grocery store workers as well as UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova will be joined by others and will address the Unfair Labor Practices that are behind the strike and answer questions from the press.
When: 12 noon, Thursday, February 6, 2025
Where: Safeway parking lot located at 6220 E 14th Ave, Denver, CO 80220
Note: This is across the street from a Kroger-owned King Soopers store
What: Press conference and Q and A with the press. Great visuals. Event is across the street from one of the Denver area King Soopers strike locations. In addition, this is one of the Safeway stores that the union is suggesting people shop at during the strike. The workers at the Safeway store are also UFCW Local 7 union grocery store workers, but as opposed to King Soopers members, the Safeway workers are still in contract negotiations with Albertsons/Safeway.
Background:
On Monday, February 3rd, UFCW Local 7 Colorado grocery store workers announced a two-week ULP strikes at King Soopers to begin on Thursday, February 6th at 5 AM. The strike will cover all unionized King Soopers stores throughout Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties as well as King Soopers stores in the cities of Boulder and Louisville. After more than three months of contract negotiations, and after the contract expired last month, UFCW Local 7 grocery store members voted by 96% last week to authorize a ULP (Unfair Labor Practice) strike. These strikes cover approximately 10,000 workers at 77 King Soopers stores.
What is an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike? A ULP strike is allowed under federal law when workers have attempted to resolve a conflict or dispute with their employer and have formalized that complaint in an Unfair Labor Practice charge against the employer with the National Labor Relations Board. The specific ULPs in this case for UFCW Local 7 are multiple and include some of the following type of charges:
Illegally interrogating union members about our bargaining and surveilling members in discussions with union staff.
Illegally refusing to provide information necessary for the union to be able to make or consider proposals in contract negotiations including sales data necessary for staffing proposals
Illegally threatening members with discipline and sending home from work for simply exercising their union right to wear union clothing, buttons and other union gear that allow workers to stand in solidarity.
Unlawfully insisting on gutting $8 million in retiree health benefit funds to pay for wage increases for active workers.
For months, King Soopers failed to respond in any way to the union’s requests for information on data that relates to sales and staffing. Some information was provided starting in January, but it is still inadequate. UFCW Local 7 represents 23,000 union workers across Colorado and Wyoming and nearly 12,000 of those workers are employed at King Soopers and City Market stores. The 2,000 King Soopers’ workers from the Pueblo and Colorado Springs areas have also voted to authorize a strike. They are not part of the initial strikes starting on February 6th but could be added later. The four City Markets stores’ workers have not yet voted.
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Local 7, the largest Union in Colorado, is affiliated with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union which represents over 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada, and is one of the largest private-sector Unions in North America. UFCW members work in a wide range of industries, including retail food, food processing, agriculture, retail sales, and health care.