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King Soopers officially on strike

Posted: January 13th, 2022, 12:28 am
by pseudo3d
Workers for King Soopers /City Market went on strike today (well, yesterday technically). The workers plan to run the strike for three weeks.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... -go-strike

Three weeks seems a bit short against Kroger's "last, best, final offer" (but a three week "unpaid vacation" is probably pushing it for the workers), but what is the end game? Will the unions sell out while the dog and pony show runs? Will Kroger kowtow, or close most of the stores a la Detroit?

Seems like a lose-lose if Kroger decides to shutter or sell the division, seeing as how the market share surpasses Safeway (as I understand it, by a safe margin).

Re: King Soopers officially on strike

Posted: January 13th, 2022, 2:39 am
by HCal
Seems a bit odd to set a 3 week time frame. I thought strikes typically last until an agreement is reached. What happens if February 2 rolls around and nothing has changed? From what I can tell, Kroger could just wait it out.

Re: King Soopers officially on strike

Posted: January 13th, 2022, 11:15 pm
by pseudo3d
HCal wrote: January 13th, 2022, 2:39 am Seems a bit odd to set a 3 week time frame. I thought strikes typically last until an agreement is reached. What happens if February 2 rolls around and nothing has changed? From what I can tell, Kroger could just wait it out.
That's where I'm confused and am suspicious of ulterior motives. When grocery workers strike, does the union help compensate them for the loss of their paychecks? If they don't, that's a raw deal there already.

The issue with King Soopers heated up pretty fast, faster than Houston, but I do know they were looking to hire to scabs in Denver. In Houston, things seem to have come to a stalemate but nothing has really happened in the last few months...probably because unlike Denver, there's way more to lose on the union side (no other unionized grocers, already running behind H-E-B).

Re: King Soopers officially on strike

Posted: January 15th, 2022, 1:31 am
by storewanderer
pseudo3d wrote: January 13th, 2022, 11:15 pm
HCal wrote: January 13th, 2022, 2:39 am Seems a bit odd to set a 3 week time frame. I thought strikes typically last until an agreement is reached. What happens if February 2 rolls around and nothing has changed? From what I can tell, Kroger could just wait it out.
That's where I'm confused and am suspicious of ulterior motives. When grocery workers strike, does the union help compensate them for the loss of their paychecks? If they don't, that's a raw deal there already.

The issue with King Soopers heated up pretty fast, faster than Houston, but I do know they were looking to hire to scabs in Denver. In Houston, things seem to have come to a stalemate but nothing has really happened in the last few months...probably because unlike Denver, there's way more to lose on the union side (no other unionized grocers, already running behind H-E-B).
The labor market is pretty tight in Denver and historically it has been pretty tight. The wages being paid at King Soopers are often not as high as, even, say, Super Target, in the Denver market. This is a problem.

I am actually surprised they are doing a strike. There are many other available jobs these folks on strike could jump to that would pay more. The fastest way to get wages to go up is to walk off the job- for good. The employer will have to up the pay until they get the pay to a level that will attract and retain employees.

King Soopers is 100% case ready meat so they can find any scab to stock the prepackaged meat. Deli is also on strike and that is already difficult to staff so a strike will not be good news for that department.

Re: King Soopers officially on strike

Posted: January 21st, 2022, 9:36 am
by pseudo3d
Strike ended today with a "tentative 3-year agreement" between Kroger and the unions. Wonder if it's the same deal with Fred Meyer where they basically gave employees an extra "bonus" (a pittance) that the unions readily accepted.