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Supermarket chain claims union strike is disrupting business

King Soopers claims the picket lines are interrupting business and are a threat to public safety given recent incidents of gun-toting customers taking potshots at picketers.

DENVER (CN) — King Soopers sued the union representing 8,000 workers on strike, claiming the picketers are disrupting the Colorado grocery chain’s business.

Ninety-five percent of UFCW Local 7 union members working at King Soopers and City Market stores voted to strike this month and walked out at 5 a.m. on Jan. 12. At issue, workers say, are fair wages, work safety and respect.

In its complaint, King Soopers claims that at one store "eight picketers formed two lines of four people each and walked back and forth in a scissoring type formation, which had the effect of stopping people and vehicles from entering and exiting the premises." At another store "picketers moved in a formation that could be described as patrolling the entrance perimeter," the supermarket chain claims.

King Soopers, which is owned by national grocery giant Kroger, hired temporary workers to staff 77 affected stores across the Denver metro.

“UFCW Local 7 strongly disagrees with the unfounded allegations by King Soopers,” union president Kim Cordova said in a statement. “There are over 8,000 workers as well as members of the public on our picket lines, and we continue to call on everyone involved not to allow these baseless allegations and bullying tactics to distract us from what is important.”

Cordova said the lawsuit is an effort to block the workers' free speech.

The lawsuit describes incidents that interfered with operations at 27 different stores, including picketers hanging signs on company property, using parking spaces and interacting with and in some cases blocking customers entering the stores.

"The picketing has included multiple incidents of picketers making false and inflammatory statements to customers about the safety of plaintiff’s stores and products," the supermarket chain claims, including the chanting of "2-4-6-8 your product is out of date."

Management at a Commerce City store advised a customer to report harassment to the police, according to the lawsuit, “The customer told the store manager that if he could not do anything, the customer would come take care of it himself, and made a statement to the effect of, ‘it is behavior like this that prompts situations like Boulder to occur.’ The customer was referring to the 2021 shooting at a Boulder King Soopers which resulted in 10 deaths.”

The lawsuit also listed harassment aimed at picketers. At one Arvada location, a customer shot picketers with a BB gun. At another Arvada store, a customer brandished a gun at picketers according to the lawsuit.

Under the Colorado Labor Peace Act, King Soopers asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order barring the union from picketing “in front of, on or near” the grocery stores.

Dillon Companies, doing business as King Soopers, is represented by Sherman & Howard attorney Raymond Deeny.

Representatives for King Soopers and Kroger did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

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Categories / Business, Employment, National

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