Six days after a strike against King Soopers in the Denver and Pueblo area, the company and the trade union seemed to keep silent, whereby both parties submitted unfair complaints of the work practices and sending a roundabout of e -mails. The supermarket chain has filed a lawsuit and is looking for a temporary restraining order against picketers.
“That is probably an honest explanation,” said Joe Kelley, president of the King Sobers, on Tuesday when the labor dispute looks like it is an impasse.
Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, The trade union officials went to court on Tuesday afternoon after King Soopers, owned by Kroger in Cincinnati, had requested a temporarily limiting order against picketers.
“The company asks a court to stop striking employees to do what striking employees do: pickets for their workplaces and speak with one voice, a voice that is currently suffocating the company by refusing to negotiate in good faith,” UFCW Local 7 said in a statement.
A temporary restraining ban that was granted by the District Court of Denver during a 2022 strike against King Soopers, limited the number of picketers for stores and forbidden strikers to hinder access from customers to stores.
In the latter case, King Soopers said that actions have not created unsafe circumstances during pickets. “To protect everyone’s well -being, we are looking for a temporarily limiting order to ensure that our stores remain safe,” the company said in a statement.
Last week, King Soopers brought a lawsuit to the American court that accuses UFCW Local 7 of the illegal to force the company to negotiate with trade unions from Washington and California. Kelley said in a statement that employees earn a trade union that first places them: “Not one that prioritizes a strategy orchestrated by special interests outside the state.”
The union said that King Soopers Albertsons/Safeway representatives invited to attend the negotiation sessions and denied that it forced the company to negotiate with another trade union. UFCW Local 7, who represents employees in Colorado and Wyoming, is negotiations with Albertsons, who owns Safeway.
In an interview, Kelley said that Cordova did not respond to the “last, best, last” contract offer from King Soopers.
“She did not propose to go back to the table,” said Kelley. “We told her that we are willing to go back this morning, tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow.”
Cordova said she had contacted King Soopers’ main negotiator last week after she hadn’t heard of him. She shared an e -mail that she sent to Ian Adams, Senior Director of Labor Relations, who asked him to let her know if the company “asks to return to the negotiating table.”
Adams’s answer said that King Soopers is still waiting for Cordova’s answer to the contract offer. “We are willing to meet and discuss whether you have any questions about our (last, best, final offer), but after we have not received the past three weeks, we will continue to ask you to give your members the opportunity to Voting about our offer. “
The answer from the trade union negotiators to the company’s offer was to succeed. After the contracts with the company proceed on January 17, the negotiating committee consisting of employees, trade union members in Metro Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo asked to authorize a strike. Members gave their approval.
About 10,000 employees started a two -week strike on 7 February in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson Counties and in Boulder and Louisville. Employees in two King Soopers stores in Pueblo joined the strike a day later.
Cordova said that the trade union could plan strike votes with members in Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins when their contracts expire and with employees on the city market, also owned by Kroger.
The trade union has submitted complaints of unfair work practices to the National Labor Relations Board and claims that the company has questioned illegally interviewed trade union members about negotiations; Surveilled members in discussions with Union staff; And has not provided any information they need to make or consider contract proposals.
Complaints King Soopers has submitted to the NLRB include accusing the Union of postponing negotiations, not negotiating in good faith and being involved in illegal threats of physical damage caused by social media.
“An extensive range was given to (Cordova) December 4,” said Kelley. “Kim has made the decision, not the negotiation committee, not to present that offer to its members.”
Kelley added that Cordova did not offer any proposals about wages and raised staff levels as she had promised.
Cordova said that the negotiation committee, consisting of employees of the King Soopers, has chosen not to put the contract offer in the vote. “We are a member -driven union.”
She added that the company did not provide the data that the trade union needs for a proposal for staff.
King Soopers rejected various proposals by the Union, Cordova said. What King Soopers calls his “last, best, definitive offer” is illegal because it includes facilities that are not allowed in a definitive offer, she said. The trade union is also concerned about proposals for healthcare.
Kelley said there is room for further negotiations, although King Soopers had made his final offer, including $ 180 million in wage increases in four years.
“All money is on the table,” said Kelley. “But money can be moved. We can talk about safety. We can talk about staff, about Verbiage. We can talk about everything we want. ‘
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