Unionized Grocery Workers Are a Sleeping Giant
Colorado Kroger workers are striking this week, and 130,000 union grocery workers are bargaining contracts this year. Reformers see it as a chance to transform the UFCW from America’s largest private sector union into a fighting force.
King Soopers grocery store workers wave at passing cars as they strike at more than seventy stores across the Denver metro area on January 12, 2022, in Denver, Colorado. King Soopers workers are now set to strike the chain across the state beginning February 6. (Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images)
In the first six months of 2025, grocery contracts covering over 130,000 union workers are set to expire. The contracts span five states, a dozen local unions, and several employers — namely the grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons.
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 just announced a two-week strike at Kroger brand King Soopers, beginning Thursday, February 6. Ten thousand Colorado grocery workers will be on strike at seventy-seven stores across the state through Super Bowl weekend and Valentine’s Day. It’s the first major grocery contract expiration in 2025 and will set the stage for the contracts bargained for the rest of the year.
Kroger’s last, best, and final offer included abysmal wage increases, with thousands of workers offered $0.25 or less in the first year of the contract. It failed to address worker concerns over understaffing, low wages, two-tier discrimination, shorter wage steps, and protections from automation.
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