Sooper Strike Bulletin #1 - Monday, Feb. 10th, 2025
Correcting the Record: Get the facts about management’s lies! King Soopers President Joe Kelley has been flooding the phones with lies and misinformation meant to scare and divide workers. Get the facts here (and block Joe’s number!).
MYTH: Lots of customers and workers are crossing the picket line.
FACT: Take a look at these photos from Superbowl Sunday, one of the busiest grocery shopping days of the year. On the left, an empty King Soopers at 4 PM on Superbowl Sunday, one of the biggest grocery shopping days of the year (1355 Krameria St). On the right, a packed Safeway directly across the street, a full parking lot and lines out the door (6220 14th Ave).
Customers are choosing to inconvenience themselves to respect your picket line. Stores are being staffed by scabs flown in from out of state and put up in hotels — all with money that could be going to you, your wages, and your pension. The community stands with King Soopers workers, no matter what the company tries to say.
MYTH: UFCW Local 7 is holding out on bargaining with King Soopers. The company is ready to come to the table.
FACT: The company is not coming to the table, not the union. The union does not have all the information it needs from the company in order to respond to the company’s last, best, and final offer. By withholding sales information, we can’t determine fair staffing. This is one of the reasons we are on ULP strike, also known as “bad faith bargaining” from the company. Until the company gives us the information we need to respond, we can’t complete bargaining our new contract.
MYTH: King Soopers (Kroger) cares more about you than your own union.
FACT: The CEO of Kroger, Rodney McMullen, was paid over $15 million dollars in 2023. According to Kroger’s own numbers, McMullen makes more than 500 times more than the average Kroger employee. The President of King Soopers, Joe Kelley, bounces from grocery chain to chain trying to tear apart unions and your rights to a living wage, a fair pension, and affordable healthcare. He brags on his own LinkedIn not about improving workers’ lives, but about improving corporate profits.
MYTH: UFCW Local 7 is illegally forcing King Soopers (Kroger) to bargain with other local unions in other states — and that hurts you.
FACT: The 12,000 workers bargaining grocery contracts with UFCW Local 7 in Colorado help set the stage for a fair contract for over 100,000 union grocery workers across the country, from California to Georgia. What you’re doing out on the picket line isn’t just helping you — it’s helping thousands of other workers, too. Solidarity is not illegal. King Soopers’ lawsuit against UFCW Local 7 is a totally bogus attempt to undermine worker power and solidarity, and it will not stand up in court. It’s just a media ploy to scare you and your coworkers.
MYTH: The King Soopers (Kroger) strike is hurting the community, like the Girl Scouts, who have to sell their cookies elsewhere.
FACT: Girl Scouts don’t cross picket lines!
