UFCW Local 7 Prosecuted for Fining Workers Who Refused to Strike

The NLRB has issued a complaint against UFCW Local 7, alleging the union illegally threatened workers with fines for not participating in 2025 strike orders against King Soopers and Safeway stores in Colorado.

The legal foundation is straightforward. The NLRA forbids unions from imposing internal union discipline on workers who are not members. The charges were filed by King Soopers employees who had resigned their union memberships and returned to work during the 2025 strike. Despite their valid resignations, UFCW agents allegedly assessed fines against them and demanded they appear at internal union “trials.”

I’ve seen this scare tactic several times before. Usually employees like this don’t show up to the kangaroo “trial” and nothing further happens to them.

The Board’s complaint says UFCW Local 7 imposed fines on the employees “even though the employees had previously tendered valid membership resignations to [the union] and were not members of [the union],” conduct that “restrains and coerces employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the [NLRA].”

Colorado is not a Right to Work state. Workers there can be required to pay agency fees as a condition of employment. But that doesn’t change the rule that once an employee validly resigns membership, the union can not discipline them for crossing a picket line or continuing to work.

For employers, three practical implications:

1. Worker right-to-resign awareness matters during strikes. The NLRA gives every union member the right to resign membership and return to work — and protects them from union discipline once they’ve done so. Many workers don’t know this. Employers facing strikes are entitled to inform employees of their legal rights, including the right to resign membership.

2. Document resignations carefully. If you’re an employer whose workforce includes union members who want to keep working during a strike, make sure resignation letters are properly executed and delivered to the union before the worker crosses the picket line.

3. Union fines have downstream collection issues. Even where unions impose fines, collecting them often requires civil litigation. The Board’s complaint here is about the threat and assessment, not collection.

The broader trend: NLRB statistics show decertification petitions are up nearly 40% since 2020. There’s a meaningful subset of unionized workers who want out — and the legal framework provides clearer paths than many realize.

h/t to The National Right to Work Foundation for their help in this matter.

Should unions be able to fine former members for crossing picket lines — or is the right to work without union discipline the more important principle?