Leaders of the striking workers at King Soopers on Saturday countered the company's request to negotiate and agree to not picket while talks are ongoing with their own offer — provide the union with information it has been seeking for five months and they will pull down all picket lines.
The union asked for the information — it didn't say what exactly but disclosed it's proprietary and deals with sales data — by Feb. 20, the supposed end date of the current two-week strike. UFCW Local 7's leaders have publicly said they could extend that strike.
"As I have previously indicated, Local 7 remains committed to returning to the negotiating table, but productive discussions will not be possible without the production of certain information that the Union has been requesting for 5 months and that the Company continues to refuse to provide," said Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, in a statement.
Cordova said time is of the essence, noting that the grocer's meat and deli workers in Pueblo will join the strike at 6 a.m. Sunday.
"It is my earnest hope that such an outcome will not be necessary," she said, adding she forwards to discussions with Ian Adams, the company's senior director for labor relations.
In its letter to UFCW Local 7's leadership, Adams indicated that, without the guarantees sought by King Soopers, striking workers may not be able to immediately return to work since the grocer needs to schedule staffing its stores with temporary employees and that will have repercussions for their health care insurance. In particular, the striking workers might not meet the work-hour requirements for February to receive healthcare coverage in April.
The slew of letters is the latest in a string of moves and countermoves by the company and the union as the strike enters its second week. Last Friday, King Soopers secured a temporary restraining order against the striking workers — but only partially.
The union's counter said upon receiving the information it is seeking from the grocer and execution of its offer, it would "pull down all picket lines" within four hours.
Under its counteroffer, the union promised not to call for another strike until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached between the two parties or for the next 45 days — effectively a strike moratorium — after workers end their current strike.
In addition, the union asked King Soopers to dismiss its lawsuit against UFCW Local 7. In return, the union said it would withdraw the unfair labor practice charges it filed against the grocer with the National Labor Relations Board.
The union asked a few more concessions:
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Give striking employees until the third calendar day after the strike is ended to return to work and to also terminate any temporary workers hired to fill jobs
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Guarantee no retaliation or discrimination against the picketing workers and not offer or promise any benefit to employees who have decided to show up to work
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Pay for the healthcare contribution in March in order to ensure April coverage for workers, regardless of whether they accrue enough hours this month — so long as they met the required 80 hours in January
"Although your letter to me indicates a desire to return to the bargaining table, these words ring hollow without an agreement to cure the unfair labor practices that got us here," Cordova said in her letter to Adams, adding several company executives had promised her the company would produce the data the union is after.
The union and King Soopers have been at a standstill over contract negotiations since January. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 called for a two-week strike starting in the metro Denver area on Feb. 6 against the Colorado grocery brand operated by Kroger.
Source: denvergazette.com
