Denver, CO
Thousands of Denver-area King Soopers grocery store workers go on strike
Some 10,000 grocery store workers across the greater Denver area went on strike Thursday, claiming unfair and illegal negotiating practices by King Soopers while their union has been negotiating a new contract with the store chain.
Striking workers at 77 King Soopers stores in Denver and its suburbs, plus those in nearby Boulder and Louisville, Colorado, urged customers not to cross picket lines that began taking shape before dawn.
“Stand together. Stay strong,” United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7 President Kim Cordova wrote union members in a Monday letter announcing the strike.
UFCW Local 7 members voted by 96% last week to authorize the unfair labor practices strike.
King Soopers, a chain owned by Kroger, with 121 stores in Colorado and Wyoming, has been negotiating a new contract since October. The current contract expired in January.
The union alleges King Soopers illegally interrogated and surveilled union members, refused to provide information needed for contract negotiations, threatened union members with discipline for clothes and buttons expressing union support, and insisted on using $8 million in retiree health benefit funds to cover pay increases.
King Soopers denies all of the allegations, saying in a statement Friday it has acted in full compliance with the law and its collective bargaining obligations. Management has gone to “great lengths” to share all relevant data with the union, is committed to fair and lawful negotiations and disputes the union’s claim that it would “gut” the retiree health benefit funds.
“We want to be clear — the Union’s call for a strike is not about wages, health care, or pensions. It is based on allegations we believe lack merit,” King Soopers President Joe Kelley said in the statement.
The strike will force customers to pay higher prices at competing stores and stores with nonunion workers, Kelley added.
The strike follows several recent threatened and implemented labor union actions in the U.S. Last week, the Teamsters union and Costco reached a tentative contract agreement to avert a strike.
At Utah’s Park City ski resort, the biggest in the U.S., some 200 union ski patrollers ended an almost two-week strike Jan. 9 after reaching an agreement with resort owner Vail Resorts for higher pay including raises for senior ski patrollers.
Labor unions have secured other meaningful employer concessions in recent months following strikes by Boeing factory workers, dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports, video game performers, and hotel and casino workers on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Green Bay Packers (9-4-1) dropped from first to second in the NFC North and from the second seed to the seventh seed in the NFC after losing to the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
Significant injuries suffered against the Broncos will mean lasting implications are felt past Sunday. The Packers are also now a long shot to catch the Los Angeles Rams for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and it’ll take a win next Saturday night in Chicago to retake control in the NFC North.
But the Packers are still in a good spot in terms of making the postseason field, especially after the Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys all lost on Sunday.
NFC playoff picture after Week 15
- Los Angeles Rams (11-3, 6-3 vs. NFC)
- Chicago Bears (10-4, 6-3 vs. NFC)
- Philadelphia Eagles (9-5, 7-3 vs. NFC)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-7, 5-5 vs. NFC)
- Seattle Seahawks (11-3, 6-3 vs. NFC)
- San Francisco 49ers (10-4, 8-2 vs. NFC)
- Green Bay Packers (9-4-1, 7-2-1 vs. NFC)
Others: Lions (8-6), Panthers (7-7), Cowboys (6-7-1)
According to The Athletic’s NFL playoff simulator, the Packers have a 92 percent chance of making the postseason with three weeks to go. They become all but guaranteed of a playoff spot if they can beat the Bears in Chicago in Week 16. In fact, just one win over the final three weeks could be enough for the Packers to get in.
The NFC North winner looks like a coinflip. The Athletic’s model gives the Packers a 48 percent chance of winning the division right now, and it would go up to 82 percent with a win over the Bears on Saturday. Chicago took down the Cleveland Browns with ease in bitter cold temps at Soldier Field on Sunday.
The Athletic’s model also gives the Packers a 98 percent chance of being the No. 2 seed if Matt LaFleur’s team can win out. That will be much easier said than done without Micah Parsons (and potentially Christian Watson) down the stretch.
Two very possibilities for the Packers: Win the NFC North and host the Bears in the NFC Wild Card Round, or get in as the No. 7 seed and go to Chicago to play the Bears in the NFC Wild Card Round. A third round of the rivalry is increasingly possible in January.
Packers remaining games
Nothing easy here. The Bears, Ravens and Vikings all won Sunday. The Bears and Ravens won comfortably; the Vikings upset the Cowboys — who desperately needed to win — in Dallas. The Bears and Ravens are both playing to win division titles. The Vikings are a dangerously talented spoiler team, and winning at U.S. Bank Stadium is never easy. The Athletic’s model gives the Packers roughly a 40 percent chance of making the postseason even with an 0-3 finish. The Lions are the biggest threat to pass the Packers in the event they finish 0-3.
It appears the Packers can clinch a playoff spot next week with a win over the Bears and a Steelers win over the Lions.
It’s time for the AFC’s #1 team to meet the NFC’s #2. Today the Denver Broncos host the Green Bay Packers in a key late-season inter-conference matchup that could have playoff seeding implications for both teams.
In Denver, the Broncos will be trying to hold on to the top spot in the AFC and keep their impressive win streak rolling. Denver has won ten straight games, some of them in fairly ridiculous fashion, but they sit at 11-2, sharing the top record in the NFL with the New England Patriots, who are just behind them in the playoff picture based on conference record.
The Packers, meanwhile, want to hold on to the lead in the NFC North before they have their rematch with the Chicago Bears next Saturday night. Green Bay sits behind only the Los Angeles Rams in the playoff race in the NFC, and they want to return to the Central time zone with that lead intact.
Join us here at Acme Packing Company to discuss today’s game, and Go Pack Go!
Houston Rockets (16-6, third in the Western Conference) vs. Denver Nuggets (18-6, second in the Western Conference)
Denver; Monday, 9:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Denver hosts Houston looking to end its four-game home slide.
The Nuggets are 13-5 in conference games. Denver averages 125.5 points while outscoring opponents by 9.6 points per game.
The Rockets are 9-5 in Western Conference play. Houston is fifth in the NBA scoring 120.6 points per game while shooting 48.6%.
The Nuggets’ 13.5 made 3-pointers per game this season are only 0.8 more made shots on average than the 12.7 per game the Rockets give up. The Rockets average 120.6 points per game, 4.7 more than the 115.9 the Nuggets give up.
The teams meet for the second time this season. In the last meeting on Nov. 22 the Nuggets won 112-109 led by 34 points from Nikola Jokic, while Reed Sheppard scored 27 points for the Rockets.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jokic is averaging 29.5 points, 12.3 rebounds and 10.9 assists for the Nuggets. Hunter Tyson is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Alperen Sengun is averaging 23 points, 9.4 rebounds, seven assists and 1.5 steals for the Rockets. Amen Thompson is averaging 20.0 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Nuggets: 7-3, averaging 126.7 points, 41.4 rebounds, 30.3 assists, 5.8 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 53.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 119.8 points per game.
Rockets: 7-3, averaging 115.7 points, 47.2 rebounds, 24.8 assists, 9.3 steals and 5.1 blocks per game while shooting 48.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 107.0 points.
INJURIES: Nuggets: Christian Braun: out (ankle), Aaron Gordon: out (hamstring), Julian Strawther: day to day (back).
Rockets: Fred VanVleet: out for season (acl), Dorian Finney-Smith: out (ankle), Tari Eason: out (oblique).
——
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Copyright © 2025 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.
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