Safeway and Albertsons workers in Estes Park, Fountain, Pueblo, and Denver will go on strike starting Sunday morning after nine months of negotiations failed to secure a new contract. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 announced the limited-scale strike, which aims to give the public time to understand the issues workers face while also allowing Safeway/Albertons to grasp the seriousness of their resolve.
The union rejected the latest offer from Safeway and Albertsons, citing its failure to address key demands for staffing, livable wages, and protection of worker health and pension benefits. The strike follows a contract extension in January, a strike authorization vote in May, and another this month, with no agreement reached between the parties.
Safeway workers are calling out Safeway/Albertons’ unfair labor practices, including bad-faith bargaining and surveilling threatening workers. “It’s too bad that things have come to this point,” said Monique Trujillo, a Safeway worker in Fountain. “The ongoing unfair labor practices have given us no choice but to strike.”
The strike is expected to impact stores in metro Denver, including Boulder and Castle Rock, as well as ones in Conifer, Evergreen, Grand Junction, Idaho Springs, Parker, Salida, Steamboat Springs, and Vail. Additional stores in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, and Longmont will hold strike-authorization votes next week.
The Safeway/Albertsons strike is the first time workers have voted to walk out over unfair labor practices since 1996. It comes after a February strike by King Soopers and City Market workers, which ran for 12 days and was halted for 100 days to allow for more negotiating. This strike is expected to be the second-largest this year, behind the King Soopers strike.
UFCW Local 7 represents 23,000 members in Colorado and Wyoming across various industries, including grocery stores, packing houses, food processing plants, and healthcare facilities.
Source: https://www.denverpost.com/2025/06/14/colorado-safeway-albertsons-strike