Contract perks touted; “poverty wages” decried
Negotiators from King Soopers and the union that represents 12,000 of its 23,000 employees are scheduled to meet Saturday to discuss a new contract for the first time since union members voted last week to authorize a strike.
The two sides haven’t met since a March 7 negotiating session broke down, leading to last week’s strike vote. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union this week continued to turn up the pressure on King Soopers and sister chain City Mar- ket, hinting that a strike is imminent if negotiations don’t produce results to the union’s liking.
“What I will tell you is we are prepared,” UFCW Local 7 president Kim Cordova said this week. “It could happen quickly. Workers are prepared to take the fight to the grocers if need be.”
King Soopers officials pushed back Friday on union claims that their most recent contract offer would not provide pay raises to all employees or guarantee that employees’ health care costs would not go up. In a news release issued Friday afternoon, the company claims its new contract would invest $117.5 million in pay increases, health care and pension benefits for workers.
“We are making a significant investment in our associates,” King Soopers/City Market president Dennis Gibson said in the news release. “The offer we have presented adds more to our associates’ paychecks while providing them with premium health care coverage and a company-funded pension.”
Information shared on the company’s website offers additional specifics. It claims that 100 percent of company work-
ers will get a raise under the new contract by Jan. 1 if the deal is ratified. It adds that there will be no increases to the employees’ health care contributions or changes to coverage and eligibility rules at any point under the deal, disputing union claims to the contrary. It says daily overtime pay rules will remain unchanged and sick pay and vacation pay will improve for certain tiers of employees.
The release on the company website says that “Part A” of its most recent offer — allegedly its last, best proposal — will be on the table again starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Cordova, in her fourth term as president of the UFCW Local 7, has negotiated two contracts with King Soopers in that time. She pointed out that aside from being the biggest grocer in Colorado, King Soopers and City Market are a subsidiary of Cincinnati-based giant Kroger, one of the most successful grocery companies in the country. The pay raises the company is offering, meanwhile, top out at 35 cents per hour, she said.
“The company is incredibly successful in Colorado,” she said. “With beer sales coming in, their sales have gone through the roof. Yet, they are offering poverty wages in this state. People can’t afford to live in the city where they work.”
King Soopers does have contingency plans in place in the event of a strike, spokesman Adam Williamson said, but he declined to elaborate.
“Right now, what we’re focused on is this negotiation and having it come to a resolution that benefits our associates,” he said.