COLORADO SPRINGS — The National Labor Relations Board is investigating a series of complaints filed by UFCW 7 against King Soopers in November and December.
The complaints are related to King Soopers interactions with employees during contract negotiations between the union and the company.
The first complaint accuses King Soopers of providing extra benefits to employees in the form of fuel points, thank you credits, and an extra-contractual benefit of a 20% discount to union members "in an attempt to buy hearts and minds of employees... and otherwise improperly influence bargaining unit employees during negotiations."
The complaint further claims that these benefits were not provided in the past. The union told News5 that these fuel credits and discounts were offered to all Local 7 members.
The second complaint filed accuses the company of failing to provide "information necessary for collective bargaining."
The third complaint relates to the contract the union and company were negotiating. The union is accusing King Soopers of providing different comprehensive offers to the union than it showed to union members. In the complaint, UFCW Local 7 says the offer shown to workers "did not clearly demonstrate its concessionary proposals."
The final complaint the NLRB is investigating deals with wage increases the union says were given to employees while the company and union "had pending proposals to implement wage increases for bargaining unit employees" while the negotiations were ongoing. The complaint further says that the wage increases were different than those in the contracts previously agreed to by the union and the company.
UFCW 7 told News5 that the wages were only raised at 6 stores, and the entry wages were raised to either $13.60 or $14.00 an hour depending on the employee's classification. The company's most recent bargaining offer, as seen by News5, is higher than those wage increases.
In a response about the general allegations filed, King Soopers told News5 that they have not received any notice of wrongdoing from the NLRB. However, King Soopers has not yet responded to questions about the specific allegations made in the complaints.
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