Federal Judge Dismisses Bogus King Soopers Lawsuit Against UFCW Local 7
In a major win for coordinated bargaining, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday, August 6, 2025 to dismiss Kroger chain King Soopers’ lawsuit against UFCW Local 7 in Colorado.
Photo courtesy of UFCW Local 7 on Facebook.
The bogus lawsuit was filed by the company in February of this year, during the two-week strike of nearly 10,000 King Soopers workers across Colorado.
The suit claimed that UFCW Local 7 was violating the law by “forcing” the union to simultaneously negotiate with other unions, including UFCW Locals 324 and 770 in Southern California, and UFCW Local 3000 in Washington state.
“To the extent King Soopers alleges the union engaged in any form of ‘coordinated bargaining’ with other unions, or simply invited other union leaders to bargaining sessions with King Soopers, this coordination as alleged does not give rise to an impermissible labor practice,” wrote U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney in the final opinion.
“This lawsuit was just another meritless effort to crush working people and silence their voices, something Judge Sweeney clearly recognized,” stated UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova to Courthouse News, who reported on the ruling.
The dismissal of Kroger’s frivolous lawsuit against its own workers and their union is a major boon for coordinated bargaining. We said it back in February, and we’ll say it again: solidarity is not against the law. This court ruling sets a powerful legal precedent for workers nationwide to coordinate their bargaining across local unions, state lines, and eventually nationwide.
When we stick together and coordinate our bargaining, we can grow our leverage to bargain big with all 700,000 grocery workers at Kroger and Albertsons stores in the UFCW. Now that’s power!