Strike by Safeway and Albertsons workers to start Sunday in 4 Colorado cities

Safeway and Albertsons grocery store workers in Estes Park, Fountain and Pueblo — and employees at a Denver distribution center — will take to the picket lines Sunday morning, after nine months of negotiations with the grocers didn’t result in a new contract.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 announced Saturday that, unlike the February strike by King Soopers workers that started at 77 stores, the Safeway/Albertsons walkout will begin on a more limited scale, first impacting locations in just four Colorado cities.

The union, in its announcement, said the strike will expand as time goes on, but the slow rollout is designed to “allow time the public to understand the problems these workers are facing, allow Safeway/Albertsons time to understand the seriousness of the workers’ resolve, and at the same time reduce the hardship on shoppers and workers alike that result from a wide-spread strike on shoppers and workers alike.”

UFCW Local 7 rejected the latest offer from Safeway and Albertsons, saying it fails to address key demands for staffing, livable wages and the protection of workers’ health and pension benefits.

Despite a contract extension in January and a strike authorization vote late May and earlier this month, the parties couldn’t come to an agreement.

“It’s too bad that things have come to this point with Safeway/Albertsons, but the ongoing unfair labor practices, including bad faith bargaining, as well as surveilling and threatening workers, have given us no choice but to strike,” Monique Trujillo, a Safeway worker in Fountain, said in a statement.

Stores in metro Denver, including Boulder and Castle Rock, as well as ones in Conifer, Evergreen, Grand Junction, Idaho Springs, Parker, Salida, Steamboat Springs and Vail are involved in the current labor dispute and could see walkouts as the strike expands.

Additional stores in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland and Longmont will hold strike-authorization votes next week, the union said.

If the Safeway/Albertsons strike expands to include all participating stores, it will be the second-largest this year, behind a strike by approximately 10,000 King Soopers and City Market workers in February. That strike, which ran for 12 days, was temporarily halted for 100 days to allow for more negotiating.

This strike is the first time that Safeway workers in the state have voted to walk out over unfair labor practices since 1996.

Back then, Safeway workers approved a strike in solidarity with striking King Soopers workers. Safeway locked its workers out before they could walk out.

Both sides came back to the table after two female employees of the Safeway store at 2660 N. Federal Blvd. in Denver were killed when a woman fell asleep at the wheel and ran into the picket line.

Other notable strikes occurred in the area earlier this year, including Alamo Drafthouse employees striking after layoffs and about 320 Lockheed Martin workers striking after rejecting the company’s contract offer.

UFCW Local 7 represents 23,000 members in Colorado and Wyoming in grocery stores, packing houses, food processing plants, barbers and cosmetologists, cannabis, counselors and healthcare facilities, according to their website.

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