King Soopers sues union for collaborating with out-of-state organizers

Less than a week after thousands of King Soopers employees across the Front Range began to strike — protesting the grocery giant’s alleged price gouging practices and understaffed stores — the company has filed a lawsuit against the union.

“Our associates work hard every day to serve their neighbors and families in Colorado, they deserve a union that puts them first, not one that prioritizes a strategy orchestrated by out-of-state special interests,” Joe Kelley, President of King Soopers, said in a statement on Friday. “We’re committed to a fair contract that delivers real wage increases, affordable healthcare, and pension stability — just like we always have. But we won’t be pressured by illegal actions that hurt our stores, our associates, or the communities that rely on us.”

According to the Kroger-owned grocery store chain, it is suing the workers union in federal court for prioritizing “out-of-state special interests” by “forcing the Company to bargain with labor unions from Washington and California.”

The lawsuit claims the union violated the National Labor Relations Act by forcing King Soopers to include employees from outside UFCW Local 7, the union representing the striking King Soopers employees, in contract negotiations. 

As evidence, the lawsuit outlines and quotes statements and messages where the unions appear to discuss joining forces to put pressure on the grocery chain.

“Together, united, UFCW 3000, UFCW Local 7, and Teamsters Local [38] will coordinate proposals and actions to show Kroger and Albertsons that again in 2025, when we stand together, we win,” said an Oct. 23, 2024 statement from UFCW Local 3000, based in Des Moines, WA.

According to the lawsuit, the non-King Soopers unions include UFCW Local 3000; Teamsters Local 38, based in Everett, Washington; UFCW Local 770, based in Los Angeles, California; and UFCW Local 324 based in Buena Park, California.

King Soopers has requested that the union pay its legal fees and be required to pay “all costs, expenses, and damages sustained … as a result of Defendant’s unlawful conduct.”

In a statement, UFCW Local 7 called King Soopers’ lawsuit “frivolous.”

“It is particularly galling that King Soopers is making such false allegations given the Company’s own track record of being caught lying about illegal coordination agreements with its competitor Safeway/Albertsons during the 2022 ULP strike by UFCW Local 7 workers,” said Kim Cordova, President of UFCW Local 7, in a statement.

Colorado Girl Scouts get a cookie sales lifeline

The lawsuit comes in the wake of a separate lawsuit filed by UFCW Local 7 on Jan. 31. That suit alleges that during a 2022 strike, King Soopers and Albertsons colluded to prevent Safeway stores from hiring striking workers — weakening the union’s bargaining power and preventing the union from negotiating higher wages.

A day after King Soopers announced plans to sue the workers’ union, the company also pledged to donate $15,000 to Girl Scouts of Colorado and extend their cookie selling deadline from Feb. 24 to March 16.

Last week, CPR News reported that roughly 2,500 Girl Scouts from 470 troops in metro Denver count on the ability to sell cookies outside King Soopers locations each year. The cookie sales were put in jeopardy after employees at 77 King Soopers stores decided to go on strike.

“The new booth dates at King Soopers toward the end of the cookie program will help troops keep pushing to reach their goals,” Girl Scouts of Colorado said in a statement. “We are also so grateful to the many businesses and organizations in our communities that stepped up to offer Girl Scouts booth locations today, tomorrow and over the next several weeks.”

Neither UFCW Local 7 nor King Soopers representatives have responded to requests for comment on the pending litigation.