While contract negotiations continue between King Soopers and union members, the company has announced leadership changes at the top.
Joe Kelley, president of King Soopers and City Market since 2019, will take over as senior vice president of retail divisions for Kroger on May 1. Kroger, the country’s largest supermarket chain, owns King Soopers and City Market in Colorado.
Chris Albi, currently the group vice president of operations for King Soopers and City Market, will succeed Kelley as president of the grocery chain. Albi, a Colorado native, started at King Soopers in 1981 as a courtesy clerk and has held various leadership positions with Kroger.
“Working alongside Chris over the past 3 years, I’ve seen firsthand her passion and dedication. She is deeply connected to the division’s identity, strategy and associates,” Kelley said in a statement Wednesday.
The personnel changes won’t affect bargaining “as our negotiations are focused on our associates and the community we serve, not an individual,” King Soopers said in an email. The company said Albi has been heavily involved with bargaining since talks began in October with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7.
The two sides agreed to a 100-day truce in February after negotiations broke off in January and a strike against several stores started. The union launched a two-week walkout against 77 stores in metro Denver and Pueblo and planned more strike votes in other parts of the state.
An agreement reached Feb. 17 called for “a 100-day period of labor peace,” while negotiations resumed. The two sides, scheduled to meet Thursday, said some proposals have been tentatively approved.
“But there’s still a long way to go, especially when it comes to wages,” Albi said in a video on the King Soopers website.
Albi and Kelley accused the union of dragging out bargaining in hopes of getting a better deal.
“The bottom line is all the money is already on the table. Every dollar available is included in the offer,” Kelley said on the video.
UFCW Local 7 said some progress has been made in a few key areas, such as scheduling and full-time employment. But an update on the union’s website criticized proposed wage increases, cuts to health benefits and proposals “to give away your work” to outside vendors.
The union is also negotiating a new contract with Albertsons and Safeway. Albertsons owns Safeway.
The contract talks follow the collapse of a proposed $24.6 billion merger between the Kroger and Albertsons chains. Albertsons called off the deal after judges in two separate cases rejected the merger and the companies are suing each other.
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