Safeway, Albertsons employees vote to strike as King Soopers negotiations stagnate

Yahoo

09-06-2025

DENVER (KDVR) — Another grocery worker strike is in the works after UFCW Local 7 workers at Safeway and Albertsons Companies voted overwhelmingly in favor of the action — some stores voting unanimously in favor of the strike.
No strike date has been set, although workers at stores along the Front Range and across Colorado have authorized the union action. The union is alleging unfair labor practices, and says that Safeway and Albertsons is 'holding hands' with King Soopers to try and cut workers' healthcare benefits.
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'Ontop of the concessionary proposals at the negotiating table, Safeway and Albertsons have gone back on their agreements,' said UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova in a press release on Friday.
The union says the stores are understaffed and that the company is backtracking on an agreement for retroactive pay and benefit increases, which the labor union cited as an unfair labor practice. Bargaining between the union and the company began months ago, but on Sunday, the union said the two grocery giants are working together despite a failed merger that the two companies had proposed.
In May, Albertsons provided FOX31 with a statement about its ongoing negotiations with the union.
'At Albertsons Companies, we are committed to productive discussions with UFCW Local 7. We respect the rights of workers to engage in collective bargaining and are negotiating in good faith to reach an agreement that is fair to our employees, good for our customers and allows our company to remain competitive,' the company stated.
FOX31 reached out to Safeway and Albertsons for further comment after the strike votes confirmed the impending union action, but has not gotten a response.
Earlier this year, workers at King Soopers went on strike for unfair labor practices. In a Facebook post on Sunday, the union noted that its negotiations with the company have not resulted in any new agreements, and the previous peaceful relations agreement that ended the strike in February will expire at midnight. The agreement's end was noted in a bargaining update posted to Facebook.
'More importantly, the Company is continuing to hold hands with Safeway/Albertsons to crush workers at both Safeway/Albertsons and King Soopers/City Market,' the union said in its post. 'These two grocery giants are colluding to ensure workers at both companies are left behind. These mega corporations are in the process of giving away over $9.5 billion to Wall Street fat cats, but are proposing low-cost contracts to workers in Colorado.'
The union said it is pressuring both Safeway/Albertsons and King Soopers to address chronic understaffing, remove two-tier discrimination on vacation from the contract and address the night premium, which the union says has fallen below the rest of the Colorado job market.
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'Safeway/Albertsons sat on the sidelines during the February King Soopers strike, but enough is enough,' the union wrote in its release published Sunday evening. 'If King Soopers and City Market and refusing to move because of Safeway and Albertsons, then workers at Safeway/Albertsons have no choice but to be a tag team partner with you and jump in to the fight!'
The union replied to a comment on its Facebook page, asking if both camps of grocery store workers would be able to strike at the same time, clarifying that a strike of both groups of grocery store workers would be possible at the same time.
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