The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 said union members working for Safeway and Albertsons in Colorado have voted to strike after nine months of negotiations failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to replace one that expired in January.
Safeway and Albertsons workers across metro Denver, including Boulder and Castle Rock, approved an unfair labor practice strike, as did workers at stores in Conifer, Evergreen, Fountain, Grand Junction, Idaho Springs, Parker, Pueblo, Salida, Steamboat Springs, and Vail, the UFCW Local 7 said in a release Thursday night.
The votes on whether to authorize a strike occurred this week and last week and in metro Denver, 99% of workers voted to strike, the union said. A date for a walkout hasn’t been announced. But in the strike against King Soopers and City Market, workers took to the picket lines in early February, six days after the strike vote results were announced. The labor action lasted nearly two weeks.
“We have been more than patient for months as the company slashed our hours and ignored workers’ proposals on staffing and other key issues. Incredibly, Safeway and Albertsons have now chosen to walk away from a signed agreement for retroactive pay and benefit increases and instead are only offering increases going forward. This is the essence of bargaining in bad faith. Time has run out,” said Kevan Kohlman, a Safeway worker from Grand Junction and member of the negotiating committee, in a press release.
More than 150,000 UFCW and Teamster workers in Colorado, Washington and California have been negotiating for a new contract, and a chief complaint they want to address is understaffing at stores, which they say has worsened working conditions for them and worsened shopping conditions for customers.
“At the bargaining table, this employer is holding hands with King Soopers and City Market to propose major cuts to workers’ healthcare benefits, and to threaten the financial security of our pension beneficiaries on fixed incomes, while continuing to reject meaningful efforts to address chronic understaffing in stores. On top of the concessionary proposals at the negotiating table, Safeway and Albertsons have gone back on their agreements,” said UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova.
Workers are seeking better wages, better staffing levels, affordable health care and a reliable pension, Cordova said, adding that union proposals have been rejected or ignored and earlier agreements reneged on.
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