Union for Colorado Safeway employees gives 72-hour notice for strike to begin this weekend

The union representing Safeway store employees in Colorado has given the required 72-hour notice that the strike is set to begin one minute before midnight on Sunday. Last week, the unionized employees voted to authorize a strike.

The union voted to terminate an extension agreement with the company on Wednesday night and that extension will expire on Saturday. Safeway/Albertsons workers in the Denver metro area, Boulder, Broomfield, Castle Rock, Conifer, Estes Park, Evergreen, Fountain, Grand Junction, Idaho Springs, Parker, Pueblo, Salida, Steamboat Springs, and Vail all voted, in late May and early June, to authorize an unfair labor practice strike by 99%.

A final offer from the union expires Friday. 

The union said they're demanding that Albertson's, the parent company of Safeway, address understaffing and offer better pay and benefits. 

"We took this decision very seriously and concluded that after so many months of bargaining, Safeway/Albertsons was giving us no choice but to further escalate our contract campaign," said Ivan Lopez, a Safeway distribution center worker in Denver, in a statement. "We'd been clear since last fall that we needed them to address staffing, poverty-level wages, and ensure that workers health and pension benefits remain fully funded. Unfortunately, the company responded with unfair labor practices like refusing to negotiate fairly and threatening workers. The Company was unwilling to reach a compromise, so the countdown will now begin towards a potential unfair labor practice strike."  

Safeway has previously stated that it respects the rights of workers to collectively bargain.   

Safeway workers are threatening a strike at the same time contract negotiations between unionized employees and King Soopers are reaching a tipping point. King Soopers and its workers have been operating under a temporary agreement since February that expired on June 8. The union said no new agreement has been reached.