Restraining order issued against picketers as King Soopers, union negotiations deteriorate

DENVER — A week into the King Soopers employee union strike against the grocery store chain, a judge has issued a temporary restraining order against union picketers as contract negotiations between the sides have reportedly deteriorated.

In its petition for a restraining order from the Denver District Court, King Soopers management claims “that employees, customers and vendors have been threatened with violence and have been made to feel fear and intimidation … and picketing has obstructed the ingress and egress of access to certain King Soopers stores,” court documents show. 

The restraining order, issued Tuesday, prohibits aggressive picketing and limits group size to 10 or fewer United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 picketers. 

If necessary, a hearing on the order is set for Jan 28.

“We reiterate our call for union members to be strong and resolute on the picket lines. We will continue to fight on behalf of our members for an improved living wage, a safe workplace and place to shop, health care benefits for workers, and the withdrawal of concessionary proposals that undermine the dignity of essential workers,” UFCW Local 7 president Kim Cordova said in a prepared statement. 

More than 8,000 union workers from nearly 80 King Soopers locations throughout metro Denver and the Boulder Valley — including employees in Boulder, Broomfield, Louisville and Westminster — are demanding pay raises, the elimination of a two-tiered salary system that punishes newly hired workers, job outsourcing to non-union workers and stronger health and safety protections in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contract negotiations, which are being held in Denver, have broken down several times and appear to have deteriorated since the parties agreed to return to the bargaining table this week. 

“After four continuous days of negotiations, we’ve made little to no progress with King Soopers,” Cordova said in a statement Tuesday. “They still refuse to address the concerns and needs of our members, who have raised their voices on the picket lines, in the media, and around the bargaining table to demand a living wage for essential labor.”

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