King Soopers parent company claims Colorado union used illegal negotiating tactics, leading to strike in new lawsuit
Dillon Companies, the parent company of Kroger and King Soopers/City Market, filed a federal lawsuit in Colorado against United Food and Commercial Workers Local Union No. 7 (UFCW Local 7) on Friday. This comes amid the beginning of the two-week worker strike across the state.
According to the lawsuit, this action is being taken due to damages Dillon Companies says it's suffering, "as a result of [the] Defendant's continuing pattern of threatening, coercive, and restraining actions, taken for unlawful purposes in violation of the National Labor Relations Act and actionable in federal court under Section 303(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act."
In response to the new lawsuit the workers union released a statement that said in part, "UFCW Local 7 learned that earlier this afternoon King Soopers filed a baseless lawsuit against the Union. The Union is confident it will successfully defend against the suit, and that King Soopers' claims will not survive initial scrutiny by a court."
King Soopers' parent company asserts UFCW Local 7 is violating, "with a purpose of forcing King Soopers to bargain with unions other than Local 7, culminating in repeated threats of strikes and calling and supporting an unlawful strike by Local 7 members against King Soopers for prohibited purposes under Section 8(b)(4) of the NLRA."
The other unions Local 7 is accused of unlawfully collaborating with included Teamsters Local 38, UFCW Local 324, UFCW Local 770 and UFCW Local 3000 to, "consolidate their bargaining and other efforts to force multi-union bargaining on King Soopers and other employers without bargaining relationships with the labor ... unions." The complaint asserts the activity between fellow unions began on or before October 2024.
CBS News Colorado has reported about ongoing negotiations for months between Local 7 and King Soopers. Fruitful negotiations continued to elude both parties, and that led to an overwhelming majority of workers in the Denver metro area and Colorado Springs/Pueblo areas voting for a labor stoppage.
In the complaint, King Soopers' parent company also claims Local 7 and the other unions sent a letter to confirm the intention of unlawful practices to King Soopers' lead negotiator.
Dillon Companies on behalf of King Soopers is requesting relief from the court in the form of payment from Local 7 for costs, expenses and damages sustained due to the labor strike deemed unlawful by the plaintiff. It also wants to be awarded payment for attorney's fees and costs incurred by the strike, as well as any relief the court might grant the plaintiff.
Dillon Companies is being represented by the Taft Stettinius & Hollister in both Denver and Colorado Springs areas.
Nowhere in the new lawsuit does the plaintiff call for the stoppage of the strikes taking place outside various King Soopers locations in the state. King Soopers released adjusted hours of impacted grocery stores as a results of the worker strike this week.
As of online publication, there was no indication other union workers outside of Colorado were striking under the purview or guidance of Teamsters Local 38, UFCW Local 324, UFCW Local 770 or UFCW Local 3000. However, there was some indication that workers for those unions had a presence in Colorado in support of the workers represented by Local 7, who are currently striking.
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