Burnout, starvation wages, unsafe locations, and lack of respect for essential workers have led to a great resignation of frontline grocery workers – 56% of which report wanting to leave their jobs. The struggles of the workers continuing to serve our communities in the middle of a deadly pandemic can no longer be ignored. It is time for us to pay it forward by supporting UFCW Local 7 members who work at King Soopers in Denver, Broomfield, Parker and Boulder locations, as they strike against the company’s unfair labor practices and fight for better working conditions.

As someone dedicated to serving my community in the state’s legislature, I am honored to stand alongside essential workers who have done everything they can to keep Colorado families fed, even as many struggle to feed their own families on a minimum-wage salary. Despite what big corporations like Kroger would have you believe, there is not a labor shortage in America – there is a living-wage shortage, a safe-workplace shortage, a hazard-pay shortage and a respect-on-the-job shortage.

Grocery workers take pride in their work. Whether a worker in the cheese shop with the knowledge of just the right cheese to serve your dinner guests, the employee in produce who makes sure your apple is perfectly ripe or the checker who greets you by name, grocery workers are an integral part of our community. Instead of treating workers as costs to be cut, or machines, King Soopers should recognize how workers go out of their way to provide outstanding customer service to our communities and pay them accordingly. They are human beings; members of the community that also need to protect and earn wages for their families.

Unfortunately, these workers’ struggle has become so great that they are prepared to strike to demand respect, protection and a living wage from King Soopers. The company continues to ignore market trends while perpetuating unfair labor practices that prevent workers from getting the best deal they possibly can. How can workers negotiate in good faith when the company remains steadfast in its commitment to treating essential workers as sacrificial and disposable?

Instead of getting bogged down with arguments maligning UFCW Local 7, a union that is representing the workers during these negotiations, King Soopers’ President, Joe Kelley, should come to the negotiating table and focus on addressing workers’ demands, which are reasonable and sensible, not ridiculous or exorbitant.

Simply put, King Soopers’ parent company, Kroger, their record-breaking profits – $483 million in the third quarter of 2021 alone – must be used to ensure workers and customers are safe in the stores. Employees are in dire need of common-sense safety measures like proper personal protective equipment, adequate safety training, and enhanced cleaning and sanitation – like those put in place in the early days of the pandemic.

Profits should also be used to make sure that employee wages keep up with Colorado’s skyrocketing cost of living. Since their current contract began in 2019, the cost of housing in Colorado has increased by nearly 30%, but wages have risen less than 2% per year. Many grocery workers cannot afford to buy the food they sell to customers, and some even struggle with homelessness. These workers deserve a livable wage that covers their basic necessities and more.

While King Soopers employees struggled and are the lowest-paid employees in the state of Colorado compared to competitors, the CEO of Kroger received a $20 million compensation package. Kroger’s record-breaking profits during the pandemic should be shared with the everyday workers stocking the shelves during a pandemic that is still raging – instead of billions in stock buybacks on Wall Street.

During this pandemic, we’ve been constantly reminded that grocery workers are essential to our communities. They need to be paid a livable wage, respected for the human beings they are and protected so that they can return home safely to their families. These are common sense demands. A letter with proposed concessions is not enough. Bullying workers is unacceptable. It is time for the King Soopers president, Kelley, and the members of the company’s local team to come to the negotiating table to look workers in the eyes, address their concerns and negotiate with the union.

State Rep. Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, represents District 24 in the Colorado House. State Sen. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, represents District 20 in the Colorado Senate.