Another strike could soon hit grocery stores across Colorado, but this time at Safeway.

An overwhelming majority of Safeway grocery workers across the Denver metro area voted on Wednesday and Thursday to strike against one of the state’s largest grocery stores, the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7 announced late Thursday night.

The Denver metro region includes stores in Boulder, Louisville, Brighton, Broomfield, Castle Rock, Conifer, Evergreen, Idaho Springs and Parker.

“At the bargaining table, this employer is holding hands with King Soopers and City Market to propose major cuts to workers’ healthcare benefits, and to threaten the financial security of our pension beneficiaries on fixed incomes, while continuing to reject meaningful efforts to address chronic understaffing in stores,” UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova said in a press release.

She added Safeway and fellow grocer Albertsons have gone back on several agreements made during the negotiating process.

“We remain committed to negotiating a contract that is fair to all parties, including our employees, and will continue to work to achieve that,” a Safeway spokesperson said in an email. “The outcome of the strike authorization vote does not change anything related to this process.”

Over the weekend, workers in other parts of the state such as Estes Park, Fountain, Salida, Vail, Fort Morgan, Pueblo and Grand Junction also voted to authorize a strike.

The votes gave union leaders the green light to launch a strike against Safeway. A date for the strike to begin hasn’t been set yet.

It’ll be the second major strike against a grocer in Colorado this year after the union representing the state’s grocery workers spoke out against King Soopers over disagreements on contract negotiations were at a standstill.

King Soopers and union extend no-strike period for another week

The February King Soopers strike of 10,000 workers temporarily ended when the two parties decided to extend negotiations for 100 days of peace, which has been extended until the end of this week for a new round of bargaining meetings.

When the union got authorization from its Denver region workers to strike against King Soopers, workers set up picket lines nearly a week later.

At the time, the union was encouraging customers to show support by shopping at Safeway instead.

Now it’s asking for people to join them in their fight against them.

The looming strike was brought about for similar reasons as to what caused the strike against King Soopers earlier in the year: establishing a new contract.

Safeway and the union have been in contract negotiations for nine months.

In May, when it began to schedule strike votes, the union posted on Facebook insisting Safeway’s leaders are pushing for workers to take concessions.

It said the two parties made progress to create a new alcohol and drug rehabilitation policy in contract negotiations and add protections to workers assigned to curbside delivery, but added that Safeway was “far behind” on many economic issues.

Union leaders claim the grocer is proposing lower wage increases than other competitors, health care cuts and isn’t addressing chronic understaffing of stores.

Safeway is owned and operated by Albertsons, which recently appointed Susan Morris as their new CEO. Morris began her career in Denver when she was 16 as a customer service clerk for the company.

The company has 105 stores in Colorado, and only regions that authorized a vote and unionized stores can be affected by a strike.

Most of the smaller towns that voted to strike only have one Safeway store in its area, according to the company’s website.

Grand Junction and Boulder each have three stores and Denver has 14.

Kevan Kohlman, a Safeway worker in Grand Junction and a negotiating committee member said in a press release that he voted to strike as he felt patient for months while Safeway ignored proposals on store staffing and other key issues.

“Time has run out,” he stated. “My co-workers and I have authorized a ULP strike to address our concerns and make our workplaces better for us and our customers.”