Safeway Albertsons Grocery Workers’ Contract Extension to Be Cancelled Saturday at 11:59 PM
Workers Unfair Labor Practice Strike Could Commence Anytime After Extension is Cancelled
DENVER, CO. – Over the past two weeks, Safeway/Albertsons grocery store workers in Colorado voted overwhelmingly to authorize an unfair labor practice strike against their employer as a result of the Company’s steadfast refusal to negotiate fairly with workers and accede to proposals that fix the chronic understaffing at Colorado’s major grocers. Unfortunately, that message was not taken seriously by Safeway/Albertsons and today’s negotiating session did not generate a breakthrough. As a result, the all-worker bargaining committee decided to give the required 72-hour notice to Safeway/Albertsons for the termination of the current extension agreement, allowing a strike to proceed as early as Sunday morning.
“We took this decision very seriously and concluded that after so many months of bargaining, Safeway/Albertsons was giving us no choice but to further escalate our contract campaign,” said Ivan Lopez, a Safeway distribution center worker in Denver. “We’d been clear since last fall that we needed them to address staffing, poverty-level wages, and ensure that workers health and pension benefits remain fully funded. Unfortunately, the company responded with unfair labor practices like refusing to negotiate fairly and threatening workers. The Company was unwilling to reach a compromise, so the countdown will now begin towards a potential unfair labor practice strike.”
The extension agreement currently has a 72-hour notice requirement before it can be terminated. That termination notice was given today at 7:24 PM. The countdown has begun and once that clock counts down to zero, then the contract is no longer in place, and a strike could begin. The Union has not yet announced any strike, but strikes could begin as early as midnight Sunday morning.
“For months now, Safeway/Albertsons have been holding hands with their supposed competitor King Soopers and City Market by proposing workers take concessions on healthcare and retirement, while continuing to refuse to take meaningful steps to address chronic understaffing in grocery stores. These companies are even proposing to take benefits from retirees on fixed incomes. Workers have seen the billions of dollars in stock buybacks these two mega corporations have authorized in recent months on the back of record profits. These companies can afford to do better.” said Kim Cordova, President of UFCW Local 7.
Workers know that the chronic understaffing has not only created suffering for workers unable to feed their families but also has a daily impact on the lives of customers. From long lines and empty shelves to causing deceptive product pricing the impact of understaffing is being felt in grocery stores across America.
Here in Colorado, Safeway/Albertsons workers in Metro Denver, Boulder, Broomfield, Castle Rock, Conifer, Estes Park, Evergreen, Fountain, Grand Junction, Idaho Springs, Parker, Pueblo, Salida, Steamboat Springs, and Vail all voted, in late May and early June, to authorize an unfair labor practice strike by 99%.
UFCW Local 7 members at Kroger-owned King Soopers held a 10-day ULP strike back in February around Colorado. The hope at the time was that Safeway/Albertsons would heed the lesson of King Soopers and come to negotiations with proposals that the workers could agree to. For months they did not, and the 99% strike votes show how clearly they have missed the mark. The Company knows they just need to do the right thing, stop breaking the law with bad-faith bargaining, and provide workers and our shoppers with a contract that will allow the stores to be run well.
Kroger and Albertsons are the two largest traditional grocery store chains in America, employing roughly 700,000 Americans between them. Both companies have enjoyed record profits since the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and are sending billions of dollars to Wall Street investors instead of investing in the stores, on lower prices for consumers, and on improving the lives of their respective workforces.
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Local 7, the largest private-sector 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.