Contract Talks Amid Merger Fallout at Colorado Grocery Chains

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Grocery Stores,Merger,Union Negotiations

Union members at King Soopers, City Market, and Safeway are negotiating contracts as Kroger and Albertsons, the parent companies, battle over their failed merger. The UFCW union criticizes the companies for prioritizing shareholder buybacks over employee needs and store maintenance.

Contract negotiations are underway between union members and employees at King Soopers, City Market and Safeway stores in Colorado. The talks are ongoing as the stores’ parent companies, Kroger and Albertsons, are bickering over their failed merger plan and legal claims. Fresh from the breakup of the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger, company executives and union leaders are negotiating new contracts for the supermarket chains’ Colorado employees. A day after the Dec.

10 rulings by a federal court in Oregon and a Washington state court, Kroger accused Albertsons of “repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process, which we will prove in court.” As the companies bicker at each other, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which opposed the merger, are denouncing the companies for spending billions on plans to consolidate and on share buybacks to benefit shareholders. Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7 in Colorado and Wyoming, called the buybacks a massive giveaway to shareholders at a time when the stores need more staffers and repairs and customers need a break from high prices. “Members have been doing the job of four to five people,” Cordova said. “You can go into the stores and see that product is not on the shelves. It’s not a supply issue. It’s in the back room. They just don’t have anyone to put it out.” Departments in stores have to close early because of inadequate staffing and there aren’t enough people to hang all the tags when prices are changed, Cordova added. Staffing is a major issue for the union. Officials with the UFCW in the Northwest and Southern California said their members have reported similar problems. Even before the proposed merger collapsed, Cordova said the companies were pushing concessions by the union in the opening rounds of contract talk

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