The ongoing labor dispute at King Soopers has taken a legal turn with the grocery chain filing for a temporary restraining order against its striking employees. Allegations of harassment towards customers by picketers have been cited as the impetus for the company's lawsuit, with 77 Denver metro grocery stores affected by the strike. The move, as reported by KDVR, seeks to create a buffer between union workers and the marketplace they once tended.
In a counteraction to the company's legal effort, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 Union (UCFW) has criticized King Soopers for allegedly attempting to quash the collective voice of approximately 10,000 grocery store workers, "The Company is asking a court to stop striking workers from doing what striking workers do: Picketing in front of their workplaces and speaking with one voice, a voice that the company is currently stifling by refusing to negotiate in good faith,” said Monique Palacios, a spokesperson for UFCW Local 7, as obtained by Denver7. The union condemned the TRO as a means to suppress workers' fights for better conditions, healthcare, and safety and against what they describe as Unfair Labor Practices by the grocery chain.
This legal entanglement comes hot on the heels of a prior federal lawsuit King Soopers filed, claiming the union engaged in "threatening, coercive, and restraining actions, taken for unlawful purposes in violation of the National Labor Relations Act." However, CBS News Colorado reports that the union deems this accusation as "baseless" and one that "will not survive initial scrutiny by a court," this description was part of a strong repudiation of the legal tactics being employed by King Soopers against its employees and the strike movement.
