King Soopers, UFCW Local 7 Reach Tentative Three-Year Deal After 12-Day Strike

After a 12-day strike earlier this year and 46 hours of bargaining, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 reached a tentative three-year labor agreement with King Soopers and its parent company, Kroger. The deal includes wage increases for top-rate employees, grandfathered employees, and department managers, alongside fully funded healthcare benefits with improvements such as enhanced dental, vision, and life insurance coverage. The agreement also protects jobs from being outsourced to gig companies like Instacart and introduces a trial program to study staffing improvements. Both parties emphasized that the contract maintains affordable healthcare and secures pensions for retirement without cuts to retiree benefits. The agreement will now be presented to union members for ratification, with meeting dates and locations being arranged. Meanwhile, UFCW Local 7 negotiations with Safeway workers, who are currently on strike, are set to resume soon.