UFCW Local 7 has long history of illegal fines and threats against nonmembers during union strikes against both King Soopers and Safeway

Denver, CO (March 13, 2026) – The federal labor board is prosecuting the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 union for unlawfully threatening workers with fines for not participating in UFCW union officials’ 2025 strike orders. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against the union after several employees of Colorado King Soopers and Safeway locations slammed the union with federal charges. These charges, filed with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, challenged fines union bosses issued simply because employees chose to work.

The NLRB’s complaint responds specifically to unfair labor practice charges filed by Ryan Lamb and Lucas Martin, both of whom were employees of a Centennial, CO, King Soopers. Both Lamb and Martin maintained in their charges that they resigned their union memberships and returned to work during the 2025 strike ordered by UFCW bosses. Even though the union had no basis on which to discipline them because they were not union members, their charges stated, UFCW agents still assessed fines against them and demanded they appear at internal union “trials.”

The NLRB is the agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal law that governs labor relations in the private sector. The NLRA forbids unions from imposing internal union discipline on workers who are not members. However, the NLRA still permits union officials to extend their exclusive “representation” powers over every worker in a workplace, even those who have refrained from union membership and oppose the union’s agenda.

Colorado also lacks Right to Work protections for its workers. In the state, private sector employees can be forced to pay money to the union as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, in Right to Work states, like Colorado’s neighbors Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, union membership and union financial support are strictly voluntary and the choice of each individual worker.

Supermarket Employees’ Charges Against UFCW Local 7 Piling Up

The NLRB’s complaint notes that UFCW Local 7 imposed fines on Martin and Lamb “even though the employees had previously tendered valid membership resignations to [the union] and were not members of [the union].” The complaint declares that such behavior “restrain[s] and coerc[es] employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the [NLRA].” The case will now go before an NLRB Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).

Foundation attorneys are currently representing eight employees of Colorado Safeway supermarkets who are charging UFCW Local 7 union officials with subjecting them to illegal fine threats in connection with 2025 strike actions. These cases are very similar to those Foundation attorneys took on for several workers in 2022, who faced impositions of sometimes thousands of dollars in fines from the same union hierarchy simply for continuing to do their jobs during a strike.

“UFCW Local 7 union officials continue to defy basic principles of federal labor law, and now they are facing a federal prosecution,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Foundation staff attorneys are proud to help Colorado grocery store workers defend themselves from coercive UFCW schemes, and this victory should signal to workers not only that UFCW bosses’ agenda often kneecaps workers’ rights, but also that workers have options to continue to work during a strike.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.