Some 10,000 grocery store workers across the greater Denver area went on strike Thursday, claiming unfair and illegal negotiating practices by King Soopers while their union has been negotiating a new contract with the store chain.

About 100,000 of the grocer’s unionized employees are protesting alleged unfair labor practices across 77 Colorado stores.

King Soopers, a chain owned by Kroger, with 121 stores in Colorado and Wyoming, has been negotiating a new contract with the union since October.

Workers at 77 King Soopers stores on the Front Range are readying to take to the picket lines Thursday morning at 5 a.m.​, with no apparent resolution in sight.

Unionized King Soopers workers in Broomfield, Boulder and Louisville will join their fellow United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 members from around the Denver metro area in a two-week strike beginning at 5 a.

Sadly, this Company’s targeting of fixed-income retirees and other vulnerable populations only compounds its history of targeting consumers with predatory pricing,” union president

Grocery workers at many King Soopers locations across the Front Range will begin striking on Thursday, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 announced Monday morning.

Workers at several King Soopers locations in Colorado launched a strike against the Kroger-owned chain on Thursday, citing unfair labor practices. As previously reported, members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 voted last month to stage a two-week strike as they continue to negotiate under an expired contract.

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Colorado King Soopers filed a federal lawsuit Friday against UFCW Local 7 for the recent grocery store worker strike. The company claims UFCW Local 7 is “unlawfully forcing the Company to bargain with labor unions from Washington and California – that do not represent its associates – to push an impermissible agenda at the bargaining table.