February 18, 2025 • 35 mins
In the first hour of today's edition of the Dan Caplis Show, Dan looks at how Denver's local restaurant owners are finally standing up to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston by pointing out his lies and telling him just how 'not ok' Downtown Denver really is.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, And I don't know if the fighting's ever been
more fun than it is right now.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Glad you're here.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Three O three seven one three eight two five five
The number text d an five seven seven three nine.
So weird to be starting the week on a Tuesday, right,
And because Ryan yesterday, I mean pretty much everybody worked
this holiday yesterday, right. Did you know anybody who had
it off other than government workers and us?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's it? Yeah, right?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Right?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So what was that all about?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
But anyway, we're glad to be back with you now,
and Lord knows, there is plenty to talk about and
plenty of fun stuff, right because Trump is on a roll,
there is no question about that.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
And you know how it is.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You know, momentum begets momentum, and success begets success, and
you're seeing all of that right now. Not perfect, It's
never going to be in any human endeavor. That's not
the way it works. You look at all the great
figures in American history, all the great figures in world history,
other than Jesus Christ himself, literally nobody has ever been perfect.
(00:59):
And so that is even pain often and of itself, right,
because the left is losing its mind for all the
obvious reasons. But on top of that, because of Trump's
success and this feeling of impotence and this feeling of
helplessness that the left has right now, so as the
constituency on the left, though it's obviously shrinking, the constituency
(01:21):
on the left gets more and more hyped up.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
You're having more and.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Stupid stuff done by the leaders on the left, including
their media arm which makes every day fun for us
on this show, because we've got the receipts, we've got
the sound, and we'll play some of that today. So
we got that going for us. And locally, meaning here
in Colorado, it's so great to see a number of
really prominent restaurant owners step up and just send this
(01:49):
letter to Mayor Mike Johnston aka Lawless Mike, aka bag
Dad Bob or should it be Bagdad Mike, but who
goes out and just just says all these things that
aren't and just pretends that everything's okay when a lot
of it's falling apart. So so great to see these
prominent restaurant owners right to Johnston and say things are
(02:11):
falling apart, because it's not like, you know, the Colorado
Republican Party writing to Mike Johnston. These are restaurant owners
in Denver saying it's falling apart around us and giving
very vivid examples.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
So it's great to do two things.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
One is the more attention you call to the problem,
that the better chance it gets fixed.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
But also just to fully expose lawless Mike for who
he is.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
He's a guy who's just out there paddling these deceptions
while things literally fall apart around him, So that gives
us more hope for a fix in the future. Three
or three someone three eight two five five text d
An five seven seven three nine. As much as we
love keeping it local, got to start on the world
(02:58):
stage today, right because this is one of those moments
in world history, American history that is going to be
a bit of a pivot point. And we've talked about
Ukraine all along, we talked about it before Putin and
he's Satan.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Why do we even say putin?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Ryan?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Can we set up maybe an internal fine system where
every time somebody says Putin instead of Satan, they get
fined because.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
What's the difference between the two.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean, the guy is Satan on Earth and that's
the reality of Putin. I know he wears a nice
watch and nice suits, and he can look like the
accountant down the street. No offense to the accountants down
the street.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Right, But he is satan.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
He is a megalomaniac, to put it mildly. And Dan,
I want to ask you the question because you lived
through this history just like I did. There was tremendous
hope in the early nineties when Gorbaschev and the Soviet
Union fell and Boris Yeltsen assumed power, and there were
talks between him and President Clinton at the time. How
do we get from Yeltsin and that Russia to this
(04:01):
one under the dictatorship of Vladimir Putin.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Because we went from Reagan to Biden, right, we went
from peace through strength to the ultimate weakness. I mean,
for all practical purposes, the US did not have a
president during the Biden presidency, and maybe even worse than that,
because there actually was an individual there who evil in
the world, led by Putin could size up, and they
(04:25):
sized him up correctly and realized they could have their
way with the world. And that's why we got what
we got in Afghanistan. That's why we got what we
got in Ukraine. That's we got what we got on
the horrors of October seven. And so now that strength
is back. Right now that strength is back, that war's
going to be ended. But the very sad thing, and
(04:46):
it's not Trump's fault, is that Evil is going to win.
To a point, Trump is going to cut the losses.
This never would have happened if Trump was in office.
But right now, Evil Putin is going to be rewarded
with some territory and he's going to be viewed as
the winner. And that's sick. But you've got to blame Biden.
You got to blame the left and Ryan, this is
(05:06):
a point I wanted to start the show with. You
gotta blame Europe. I mean, this doesn't happen without Biden's weakness.
But Europe absolutely failed Ukraine. Europe had its moment of
testing and it decided it was going to surrender to Putin.
And that is one of the saddest chapters in modern
(05:26):
world history. You know, somebody had the great line. I'm
sure you saw it. Ukraine needed fighters from Europe and
it got cheerleaders. It got cheerleaders instead of fighters. Somebody
else said that, and that's true. You know, the European
leaders and countries. Yeah, Gozolinsky's standing ovation. You know, hey,
(05:47):
here's a big, nice Crepe. But they wouldn't give him fighters.
And from day one it was clear unless Europe put
boots on the ground, Russia was going to win. And
Europe decided not to do it, and so Europe failed Ukraine.
There should never be an American boot on the ground
in Ukraine. But Europe failed Ukraine. And I didn't want
(06:08):
World War three and Ukraine. Who would? But the only
way to stop Putin is to prove that Europe would fight,
and Europe made it cleared from day one it would
not fight.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
And I think Dan too, where people have to pump
the brakes on this, and I think you've done that effectively.
Here is Trump has to unblank what Biden blanked up,
and in particular on this front with the war in Ukraine.
Like you said, like I agree, like Donald Trump says
it would never have happened on his watch, but it
wasn't on his watch, and it happened, and it happened
(06:40):
on Biden's watch. So there's a degree of kind of
clean up on Aisle nine that has to happen here
where yeah, Putin's going to get some stuff, and he
shouldn't have gotten it. But if we want to end
this war and bring it to a resolution, then yeah,
he's going to have to talk to both sides. Trump,
his administration, Secretary of State Rubio, He's got an entire
envoy in team there. And I think there's a real
(07:01):
momentum here toward peace dand that we did not have
and there was no hope of it when Joe Biden
was president.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Well, I think.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
There's more than momentum, Ryan, I think it is certain
at this point this war is going to end. And
then whether it can be fairly labeled peace or not,
only time will tell. But Trump will will do the
job the world needs done that only he can do
right now, which is to end the war. And I
love what Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor said that,
(07:30):
wait a second. Until Trump was elected, you know, there
was no talk of ending this war. You know, no
real talk of ending this war, and any talk was
about how the war might end. Now that Trump's been elected,
all the talk has shifted, total paradigm shift to win.
The war will end, and that's all because of Trump.
(07:52):
So he's doing his job. Let's go, Ryan, with cut four,
where Rubio I think lays it out clearly for Europe
and the world got four.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
The Ukraine and the.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
European passages that they feel very sidelined without how the
process has laid out so far, How you intentionally address
their concerns and equiality incorporated and be treating and multiplay.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Well.
Speaker 6 (08:14):
The comment I would have on that is that for
three and a half years while this conflict is raged,
or three years while it is raged, no one else
has been able to bring something together like what we
saw today because Donald Trump is the only leader in
the world that can.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So no one is being sidelined here.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
But President Trump is in a position that he campaigned
on to initiate a process that could bring about an
end of this conflict, and from that could emerge some
very positive things for the United States, for Europe, for Ukraine,
for the world. But first it begins by the end
of this conflict.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Europe had three and a half or three years and
couldn't accomplish anything because the European leaders didn't have any
credibility because Putin could see it was all talk. They
and some money, but money's money, you know. Until you're
willing to put boots on the ground. Evil is going
to win, and Putin could see that good was surrendering
(09:02):
to evil and he took advantage of it. Now there's
a new sheriff in town. Now there's strength, and Prutin's
going to have to come to the table. Unfortunately, evil
will win because of Joe Biden, because of the Left,
because of European weakness. But Trump will have accomplished the
best that could be done. Right now eight fi' five
four zero five eight two five five text d A
(09:24):
N five seven seven three nine. And then at four
thirty six, Kim Cordova from the Union will join us
to talk about the end of the King super Strike
and who was it? Did Jimmy Sangenberger or maybe a
listener challenged me to ask her some tougher questions, And
I'm going to take that challenge up. That that was
an excellent suggestion, looking forward to that interview. You're on
(09:45):
the Dan Kapla show.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
This is gonna yet again raised.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
A concern about FAA staffing air traffic control staffing. Now,
this is a Canadian air traffic control tower and this
is under Canadian authority.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Once across the border.
Speaker 7 (10:13):
And yet, as you know, there has been this talk
about maybe staff cuts at the FAA as a part
of President Trump's effort to trim down the federal workforce.
And yet, as you also know, the FAA has been
complaining for years that they are understaffed and critical job positions, especially.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Air traffic control.
Speaker 7 (10:31):
I was having a conversation with somebody today about whether
air traffic control in America is being affected by the
staff cuts so far, not to their knowledge, and yet
other positions related to maintaining critical equipment appaired to have
been cuts. So this is going to feed into all
of these recent incidents, and the safety of the total
air traffic system is going to be very much a
(10:52):
part of the conversation as we go forward, at least
on this side of the country of the border.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I should say, yeah, you see, Trump has completely broken
the media arm of the Democratic Party, and I'd say
that's exhibit A. But we already have a through Z.
We're going to have to create some new letters for
the alphabet. That's Tom Costello from NBC News and I
remember Tom well, we were contemporaries. I think at the
time he was at Channel nine. Liked Tom he was
(11:19):
a good reporter, and so it's too bad right that
he's now part of the propaganda arm of NBC News.
But he's doing Trump an enormous favor, right, because that's
so goofy on its face, it's just going to cause
people to distrust the media even more. But I don't
know that that's physically possible, Ryan, because at this point,
(11:42):
I don't know that there's any significant level of trust
in the national media at all anywhere.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
No, so their popularity, Dan and Ryan, are you hearing me?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I certainly am, Yes, I am. Can you hear me?
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, I just got you back? Sorry there.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
You see, this is what happens, right when Ryan goes
out and he gets a new Ferrari or Bugatti, then
everybody expects him to go zero to one hundred and
two blocks. But you know, you got to let the
engine warm up and everything else. We've got new remote
broadcasting equipment. Today I'm hold away doing trial prep and
so we're using some new fancy broadcasting equipment that literally
(12:23):
costs more than the house I grew up in. And
I grew up in the most wonderful home you could
ever imagine. But of course, the better the equipment, the
worse it works. So sorry for that little glitch there,
but I think people got my point right that all
this leftist craziness, media craziness only helps Trump, only undermines
(12:44):
the media credibility further. But the question I had on
the table, Ryan, I don't think there's any meaningful credibility
left with the national media, at least with the people
in the middle. I don't think people trust them as
kind of neutral arbitrators anymore, or neutral reporters anymore. I
think that's all gone now.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Their approval ratings are somewhere around Mitch McConnell's and those
members of Congress that are well despised by both sides.
I think the media, like you said, it, has burned
through all of its political capital by jumping at every
single Trump narrative and taking the opposite position side, even
when that was not prudent for their coverage, for their ratings,
(13:24):
for their viewers or listeners. And what we just heard
there from Tom Costello, I mean, that's the stuff of parody.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
This is absolute his hysteriousness. Because this plane landed in Toronto.
The FAA had nothing to do with this plane. Descending landing,
et cetera. And to try to tie this to Trump
just makes them all the more ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
They can't pick their battles.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
It really does. But listen, Tom's a smart guy. I
knew him from his days here and NBC. Those are
smart people, right. I mean, they have a lot of
wrong leftist ideas things like that, but they're smart people intellectually.
I think what's going on, Ryan, and I'm not privy
to their daily ratings breakdown and all of that. I
think what's going on is they're under tremendous pressure from
(14:09):
their their viewership, you know which which is losing hope, right,
under tremendous pressure from their viewership implicitly to go on
the attack, to give them some reason to hope, to
give them some reason to hope that Trump's going to fail,
or those viewers are going to stop watching, right because
if all they're ever going to see is the success
(14:30):
of Donald Trump, which is ninety nine percent of the
true news, they're going to stop watching. So that's what
I think is going on. It's no less dishonest, it's
and it's no less helpful to Trump. But I think
that's what's behind this lunacy three oh three SEVENE three
A two five five the number text d A N
five seven seven three nine.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Kim Cordova, president.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Of the union that's been behind the King super strike,
will join us at four thirty six. We'll get into
the reasons to strike ended. And thank goodness it did.
I saw there's a text today celebrating the fact that
I can go back to King Soupers and get back
to my regular peanut butter.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So thank you to that texter.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I know that seems small to most people, which kind
of baffles me, because everybody has a favorite food, right
and if you can't access that favorite food because of
a strike, that's a little frustrating.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
What's your favorite food?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Well, it's not peanut butter, and certainly not right before
I go on the air, Dan, you really tempt fade
every single day, and I admire your dedication to the
peanut butter cause.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Bro, it's a challenge.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We all need that extra I mean, listen, when you've
been on air almost thirty years, and maybe it's more
than thirty years someday, can you figure that out for me?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Sure? Okay, but you need.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
New challenges because you know the stuff you're bad at,
you're not going to get better at. True, the stuff
you're good at, you're probably as good as you're going
to get. So you need some new challenges. So maybe
like duct tape over the mouth, eating peanut butter?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Are you going? I want to welcome Kelly back.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Kelly's back from just one of the toughest things anybody
ever has to do, which is burying her beloved father.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
But so glad to have Kelly back with us.
Speaker 8 (16:11):
Thank you, Dan, It's good to be back.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (16:15):
Yeah, returning one more time a week from Friday to
do the celebration of life reception. And but it was, yes,
probably the worst week of my life.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Oh yeah, yeah, everybody's right, everybody's when they lose a
parent and then God forbid a child.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I mean just yeah, the worst thing in the world.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
But so glad you're back with us. And it really
is interesting, isn't it, Kelly? And I think it's great
how things have changed and now often there's more time
to plan that big celebration of life.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It used to be that.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Like clockwork, right, I mean, those weeks were going to
happen in the first few days. The funeral had to
happen within four or five days. But I think it's
great now that there's more time.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Well, he definitely. Both my parents made it very easy
on all of us because they had pre planned this
in twenty fourteen, so we didn't have to do a
whole heck of a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Except for the.
Speaker 8 (17:22):
Picking out the burial clothes and you know, helping my
mom with I thing. She's eighty one, so she's also,
you know, not a sprite person to get around, and
so it was good that Adam and I and the
kids were there to help her go to the market
(17:43):
and help her, you know, get herself.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Boy, that is so true. Yeah, that is so true.
And so YEAHM so so glad you're back.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
And Andy, after this break in Cordova, head of the union,
will give you her tape on why the strike ended
and whether there's another one coming down the pike. And
then want to talk about these brave prominent restaurant owners
in Denver who are saying to Mayor Johnston, this place
is falling apart. Here on the Dan Kaplra show, get
(18:26):
down close to zero, We'll keep you warm here at
three oh three sevenon one three eight two five five
text Dan five seven seven three nine. Hey, President of
UFCW seven, Kim Cordova joins us talk about the end
of the King super strike. We're hoping for quite a while. Kim,
welcome back to the show.
Speaker 9 (18:45):
Hi damn, thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, sure thing, I think the big question people have
is what ended the strike and is this just buying
time or can we expect to be able to go
to King soupers now for a long time to.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
Well, what happened was, in my opinion that what got
us back together was we were successful in the restraining
order case where the company attempted to well, they filed
a complaint to seek a restraining order to limit the
you know, how many people can strike or the strikers
(19:23):
in general, and we were successful. So we went to
court on Thursday last week. We got a decision late
Friday evening and by Saturday, King sent a letter asking
to go back to the table, which had not happened prior.
But we negotiated over what that would look like, and
so we didn't accept our offer, and we've set in
(19:45):
terms of things that needed to be done in order
for us to come back to the table. And so
now we have an agreement to try to you know,
hopefully work through you know, our proposals, and I'm hoping
that the company negotiates with us.
Speaker 10 (20:01):
So, so, kid, is this a pause where we may
see strikers back on the line in another week or
two if the union doesn't feel the companies negotiating in
good faith?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Or is this a strike that has really ended?
Speaker 9 (20:16):
A strike is not? It's not totally ended for this
particularly those particular ulps. That strike is over, but the
we're you know, we're far from reaching the deal. We're
so far apart. So right now, the parties have agreed
that for at least one hundred dates they could not
lock out the workers. So you know, they had the
(20:38):
option to lock out, which we understand they were threatening
to do. We can't strike for one hundred days and
they cannot implement an offer for one hundred days, So
you know, we have some time to try to work
through it. And if not, I mean, you know, this
might I'm hoping that we can reach an agreement, but
(20:58):
if not, you know, we might have you know, we
might continue the fight. I mean, the fight might happen
outside of these stores.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Again, Well, Kim, let me ask you, Kim, Cordova, UFCW
seven President Kim. A lot of people are still confused
as to what the reason is for the strike. So
what exactly are you going to be negotiating right now?
Speaker 9 (21:21):
So right now we're trying to negotiate successor agreements. We're
negotiating for all the unionized stores for Kingsupers are on
the front range of Colorado, southern Colorado and the western
slopes of city markets. We have sixteen collective bargaining agreements
that we're negotiating over. We have, you know, city market
(21:42):
king Soopers. So there's about twenty i'm sorry, around twelve
thousand workers that these contracts cover, and so we are
trying to reach successor agreements now.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
But we may interrupt and I'm so sorry, just our
time constraints.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
What are the big issues though, because after we talked
last a lot of listeners had the good question, Wait
a second, it sounds like it's not over money. So
it's not over pay raises. It might be over having
more staffing. But but but what is the primary point
of contention right now?
Speaker 9 (22:16):
Well, there's several one. Staffing it's the number one you know,
it's the number one issue. We are trying to address.
So there's chronic staffing issues like I explained last time
we spoke. But also there are proposals on the table
that the company has regarding healthcare, you know, pension and
our retiree benefit. We have a down alone retire refund
(22:39):
in the company's proposing to take eight million dollars and
divert the money that would go into that fund into
another fund, and that would hurt a very vulnerable group
of we're you know, people that live on limited income,
and that's we're not going to allow that. There's also
we are actuary show that we're going to be about
forty one million dollars short on healthcare if we were
(23:02):
to agree to the company's proposal. We're not going to
agree to that. Our members just want to be able
to have you know, these stores fully staffed. They want
investment in staffing. Safety is a big deal. Like I
told you a lot of that. They have the shop
listing our members in the middle of all of the
crime that goes on and in these stores. But also
(23:23):
they want the ability to afford to buy the groceries
that they sell. And so even though King Soopers is
all over the airways and that they're offering a four
dollars and fifty cent wage increase that's over four years
and only to selected votes, so when we haven't got
to economics on our side yet. But their wage increases
are zero to twenty five percent for thousands of workers.
(23:45):
And so I mean, obviously that's the point of contention.
But healthcare, you know, we'll be bargaining over healthcare. We
submitted a proposal of the company will not agree to
as well as they're not offering any new money to
our pension plans, and so you know, that's the economic
piece of it. But the big piece is really that
(24:06):
we have been trying to get the company to recognize
that there are chronic staffing issues in those stores. The
customers see that when they're waiting in long lines, they
see empty shelves, they see departments closing early, and we've
seen an eighteen percent reduction since COVID. So even though
these stores are doing quite well, they are not replacing
(24:27):
bodies in the store, and there's not hours allocated to
actually perform the work.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Thank ye, let me ask you this if I may.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Our friend Jimmy Sangenberger, who's on this station, sometimes wrote
a column for the Denver Gazette with the headline strike
serves outside agenda, not local workers, and in part talked
about West Coast unions that it talked about, how, you know,
if they want to see local unions here, et cetera,
help them on the West coast transform the grocery indus street.
(25:00):
So is this a case where this strike was motivated
more by people outside of Colorado wanting to increase the
overall strength of the union rather than local issues.
Speaker 9 (25:13):
No, not at all. We may have we're the UFCW
and other unions represent workers with Kroger and Saeguay and Alberson's,
and there's systemic problems within the industry, but our strike
and our negotiations they're over our Colorado workers. They actually
take the vote, they walked out, you know. And so
(25:34):
this is these are local issues. I mean, we we
have other local unions around the country that have the
same type of you know, problems with Kroger and all that.
But when you talk about local or outside issue, Safeway
is I mean Kroger King Soopers is bargaining and coordinating
with Safeway, a whole different company, a different employer and
(25:57):
their competitor, and they brought in out side workers from
staffing agencies from the South to cross the picket line
and help move the company's agenda. So I didn't see
that piece about it. But this doesn't have anything to
do with West Coast and moving a West Coast agenda.
(26:17):
It's that we have common employers. We are one union
where the UFCW have the same international union, and our
interests we've you know, we had a coalition that to
block the merger. We were against the merger and our
interests were the same. I mean, we knew it all.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
It's so sorry interrupt.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Let me ask you one more question before the end
of this segment, and that is I'm sure a lot
of people listening have the same attitude I do, which
is why it looks like to strike largely succeeded. We
like King Soopers, we like the store, we like the company,
we like the people who work there. We want to
support the workers. At the same time, everybody listened, money's tight,
(27:01):
So I'm sure a question on folks minds is, okay,
is this now, this success by the union going to
mean that groceries become more expensive for the people listening
to this show.
Speaker 9 (27:15):
No, not at all. We haven't even gotcha economics. The
company is, you know, they have self checkout. You've seen
that the workers are not to blame for these high prices.
Everybody on your show, folks shouldn't give the path path
to Kroger when they just gave their shareholders seven point
five billion dollars in stop buybacks. And again, this is
(27:36):
a company that's very successful. The workers only want a
piece of the wealth that they create. They haven't received
a wage increase. Well, so when grocery prices are going up,
you're going through self checkout and you're having to do
a lot of this work at the register, and your
prices haven't went down. So while workers are doing more work,
(27:58):
they are not being able to give the level of
service for the price of the goods that are being
sold at that store. Our members are investors, their stakeholders.
They have to be able to even afford to buy
the groceries in their own stores, you know. And that's
the thing. And by the way, most of our members
are part time. And so when they're talking about a
(28:18):
four dollars fifty cent rate, the general public thinks that
things workers are getting that off the bat. Only selected workers,
thousands of workers under the company's proposal with see zero
to twenty five cents on part time hours.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And Kim, I have to get out right now for
a heartbreak, but thank you for being with us. And
I think the reason the strike succeeded is I think
people's experience over the years and decades with the King Soopers.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Employees they come in contact with has been.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Universally positive and so yeah, and everybody wants that to continue.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Kim, thanks for your time today.
Speaker 9 (28:55):
Thanks Dan, Happy, thank you you.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Take care of that is Kim Cordova from the union.
When we come back Denver restaurant owners telling Mayor Johnston
the city is falling apart around them.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
You're on the Dan Kapla show.
Speaker 11 (29:19):
Well, he was standing in a country where free speech
was weaponized to kentuct a genocide, and he met with
the head of a political party that has far right
views and some historic ties to extreme groups. The context
of that was changing the tone of it, and you
(29:43):
know that that the censorship.
Speaker 6 (29:44):
I disagree with you specifically about the right now I
have to disagree with you.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
It has to be one of the top five stupidest
things ever said on television anywhere.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
In the world.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
And you know me, I don't use that word stupid
as a pejorative. I only use it when there's no
other word that will capture it. That's Margaret Brennan. She
is an intelligent person. Now she's a Lefty, so she
has a lot of bad ideas, but she's an intelligent person.
So she's sitting there on National TV in America saying
(30:18):
that the horrors of the Holocaust were caused by free speech.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I mean, an infant.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Would know that's laughable. So what's really going on. That's
my point. My point isn't oh, look at Margaret Brennan,
she's stupid. No, My point is that what the left
has realized right now and what it realized a long
time ago, is if there is free speech, the left loses.
It's that simple. If there is free speech, the left
loses because the left's ideas are bad that the facts
(30:48):
disproved the left, logic disproves the left, basic morality disproves
the left. So if people are allowed free speech, the
left loses. That's what those comments were all about. So
now Margaret Brennan, at the level of top level of
CBS and faced the nation has to take the position
(31:09):
that it's free speech that caused the Holocaust. That's how
dangerous free speech is. So that's what's really going on,
and that's another reason this last election was so critical.
His free speech was on the line, and it's just
like Polish. He came out the day after he was
elected governor and said, now people have to keep their
faith out of the public square. And that's another version
(31:32):
of this right because he knows if people practice their faith,
if they vote their faith, the left loses.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Same point.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
If people are free, free to practice their religion freely
and openly, free to live their religion, including in the
way they vote. And that doesn't mean Catholics voting for Catholics. Hey,
some of the worst you know people out there when
it comes to undermining church teaching when they're elected office,
are Catholics. No, this is about vote being the principles
(32:01):
of your face. So police knows the left nose. If
if people have free speech, freedom of religion, the left loses.
That's why Margaret Brennan was driven to say something that
stupid and crazy. They are desperate on the left, and
that's good because they're exposing themselves now for who they
really are. Let's go to Dean and Arvada to kick
(32:21):
off our callers. You're on the Dan Kaplis show. Welcome Dan,
He Dan.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
How you doing?
Speaker 2 (32:29):
I am living the dream? How about you?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yun about that?
Speaker 9 (32:33):
Hey?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
It was calling. The last Hilary had was the lady
from King Supers, the head of the year. The question
I have is the question I have is why she's
so concerned about staffing. She's not one Looking at propt
and Lost Stavens. People only get eight hours of workout
of them. It's not like they're doing the job of
three people.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Oh but forgive me, my friend.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Have you been in an understaffed situation and your experience
sat King Supers, because you're gonna have yours.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I own, I own two companies.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Okay, great, So do you shop at King Soupers?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Okay, so you can size it up for yourself. My
experience is that people who work at King Supers are great,
and that there is understaffing, and that understaffing affects the
consumer experience. But I've got to believe it makes it
harder on each worker.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
I understand.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
I honestly, I haven't seen problems with my customer service.
Do you self checkout four different ones.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah, okay, I hate it, and listen, I do a
lot of tough stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
I do a lot of hard work. I hate self checkout.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
If I'm about to pay one hundred and two hundred
bucks for groceries, I at least want to wheel my
card and have a nice conversation with the cashier. I
don't want to go and be scanning my barcodes. I
know it sounds small. I just hate it, so more
and more often I have to self check out. That
affects my customer experience. You may enjoy self checkout for
other people. I could see it being arresting.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Yeah, I actually do like it. Okay, Look, I mean
that's the only issue is the stuff checkout. It seems
like you know, she's worried about I mean she's not
why on the bottom line of these stores?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Well?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
But but how is the bottom line at King Sooper's
Right now? It looks pretty good to me? I mean,
what what?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
What was?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
And this is not a fair question to you. You're
a hard working man, you're running your businesses. You don't
have time to look at this stuff. But what would
you guess that the profit net bottom line profit, not
gross revenue net profit of Kroger was last year.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Well, I heard it was billions. I don't know if
it's sure enough.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Seven and a half? What billion?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah, no, I think it was more like three and
a half. But they're not going broken. And hey, my friend,
you're you're a great caller. I'm a business owner like
you are. I'm sensitive to all the same issues you are.
If you want to hang on, we'd love to have you.
You're on the Dankapla Show.
Yeah, And I don't know if the fighting's ever been
more fun than it is right now.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Glad you're here.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Three O three seven one three eight two five five
The number text d an five seven seven three nine.
So weird to be starting the week on a Tuesday, right,
And because Ryan yesterday, I mean pretty much everybody worked
this holiday yesterday, right. Did you know anybody who had
it off other than government workers and us?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's it? Yeah, right?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Right?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So what was that all about?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
But anyway, we're glad to be back with you now,
and Lord knows, there is plenty to talk about and
plenty of fun stuff, right because Trump is on a roll,
there is no question about that.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
And you know how it is.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You know, momentum begets momentum, and success begets success, and
you're seeing all of that right now. Not perfect, It's
never going to be in any human endeavor. That's not
the way it works. You look at all the great
figures in American history, all the great figures in world history,
other than Jesus Christ himself, literally nobody has ever been perfect.
(00:59):
And so that is even pain often and of itself, right,
because the left is losing its mind for all the
obvious reasons. But on top of that, because of Trump's
success and this feeling of impotence and this feeling of
helplessness that the left has right now, so as the
constituency on the left, though it's obviously shrinking, the constituency
(01:21):
on the left gets more and more hyped up.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
You're having more and.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Stupid stuff done by the leaders on the left, including
their media arm which makes every day fun for us
on this show, because we've got the receipts, we've got
the sound, and we'll play some of that today. So
we got that going for us. And locally, meaning here
in Colorado, it's so great to see a number of
really prominent restaurant owners step up and just send this
(01:49):
letter to Mayor Mike Johnston aka Lawless Mike, aka bag
Dad Bob or should it be Bagdad Mike, but who
goes out and just just says all these things that
aren't and just pretends that everything's okay when a lot
of it's falling apart. So so great to see these
prominent restaurant owners right to Johnston and say things are
(02:11):
falling apart, because it's not like, you know, the Colorado
Republican Party writing to Mike Johnston. These are restaurant owners
in Denver saying it's falling apart around us and giving
very vivid examples.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
So it's great to do two things.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
One is the more attention you call to the problem,
that the better chance it gets fixed.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
But also just to fully expose lawless Mike for who
he is.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
He's a guy who's just out there paddling these deceptions
while things literally fall apart around him, So that gives
us more hope for a fix in the future. Three
or three someone three eight two five five text d
An five seven seven three nine. As much as we
love keeping it local, got to start on the world
(02:58):
stage today, right because this is one of those moments
in world history, American history that is going to be
a bit of a pivot point. And we've talked about
Ukraine all along, we talked about it before Putin and
he's Satan.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Why do we even say putin?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Ryan?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Can we set up maybe an internal fine system where
every time somebody says Putin instead of Satan, they get
fined because.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
What's the difference between the two.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean, the guy is Satan on Earth and that's
the reality of Putin. I know he wears a nice
watch and nice suits, and he can look like the
accountant down the street. No offense to the accountants down
the street.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Right, But he is satan.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
He is a megalomaniac, to put it mildly. And Dan,
I want to ask you the question because you lived
through this history just like I did. There was tremendous
hope in the early nineties when Gorbaschev and the Soviet
Union fell and Boris Yeltsen assumed power, and there were
talks between him and President Clinton at the time. How
do we get from Yeltsin and that Russia to this
(04:01):
one under the dictatorship of Vladimir Putin.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Because we went from Reagan to Biden, right, we went
from peace through strength to the ultimate weakness. I mean,
for all practical purposes, the US did not have a
president during the Biden presidency, and maybe even worse than that,
because there actually was an individual there who evil in
the world, led by Putin could size up, and they
(04:25):
sized him up correctly and realized they could have their
way with the world. And that's why we got what
we got in Afghanistan. That's why we got what we
got in Ukraine. That's we got what we got on
the horrors of October seven. And so now that strength
is back. Right now that strength is back, that war's
going to be ended. But the very sad thing, and
(04:46):
it's not Trump's fault, is that Evil is going to win.
To a point, Trump is going to cut the losses.
This never would have happened if Trump was in office.
But right now, Evil Putin is going to be rewarded
with some territory and he's going to be viewed as
the winner. And that's sick. But you've got to blame Biden.
You got to blame the left and Ryan, this is
(05:06):
a point I wanted to start the show with. You
gotta blame Europe. I mean, this doesn't happen without Biden's weakness.
But Europe absolutely failed Ukraine. Europe had its moment of
testing and it decided it was going to surrender to Putin.
And that is one of the saddest chapters in modern
(05:26):
world history. You know, somebody had the great line. I'm
sure you saw it. Ukraine needed fighters from Europe and
it got cheerleaders. It got cheerleaders instead of fighters. Somebody
else said that, and that's true. You know, the European
leaders and countries. Yeah, Gozolinsky's standing ovation. You know, hey,
(05:47):
here's a big, nice Crepe. But they wouldn't give him fighters.
And from day one it was clear unless Europe put
boots on the ground, Russia was going to win. And
Europe decided not to do it, and so Europe failed Ukraine.
There should never be an American boot on the ground
in Ukraine. But Europe failed Ukraine. And I didn't want
(06:08):
World War three and Ukraine. Who would? But the only
way to stop Putin is to prove that Europe would fight,
and Europe made it cleared from day one it would
not fight.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
And I think Dan too, where people have to pump
the brakes on this, and I think you've done that effectively.
Here is Trump has to unblank what Biden blanked up,
and in particular on this front with the war in Ukraine.
Like you said, like I agree, like Donald Trump says
it would never have happened on his watch, but it
wasn't on his watch, and it happened, and it happened
(06:40):
on Biden's watch. So there's a degree of kind of
clean up on Aisle nine that has to happen here
where yeah, Putin's going to get some stuff, and he
shouldn't have gotten it. But if we want to end
this war and bring it to a resolution, then yeah,
he's going to have to talk to both sides. Trump,
his administration, Secretary of State Rubio, He's got an entire
envoy in team there. And I think there's a real
(07:01):
momentum here toward peace dand that we did not have
and there was no hope of it when Joe Biden
was president.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Well, I think.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
There's more than momentum, Ryan, I think it is certain
at this point this war is going to end. And
then whether it can be fairly labeled peace or not,
only time will tell. But Trump will will do the
job the world needs done that only he can do
right now, which is to end the war. And I
love what Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor said that,
(07:30):
wait a second. Until Trump was elected, you know, there
was no talk of ending this war. You know, no
real talk of ending this war, and any talk was
about how the war might end. Now that Trump's been elected,
all the talk has shifted, total paradigm shift to win.
The war will end, and that's all because of Trump.
(07:52):
So he's doing his job. Let's go, Ryan, with cut four,
where Rubio I think lays it out clearly for Europe
and the world got four.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
The Ukraine and the.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
European passages that they feel very sidelined without how the
process has laid out so far, How you intentionally address
their concerns and equiality incorporated and be treating and multiplay.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Well.
Speaker 6 (08:14):
The comment I would have on that is that for
three and a half years while this conflict is raged,
or three years while it is raged, no one else
has been able to bring something together like what we
saw today because Donald Trump is the only leader in
the world that can.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So no one is being sidelined here.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
But President Trump is in a position that he campaigned
on to initiate a process that could bring about an
end of this conflict, and from that could emerge some
very positive things for the United States, for Europe, for Ukraine,
for the world. But first it begins by the end
of this conflict.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Europe had three and a half or three years and
couldn't accomplish anything because the European leaders didn't have any
credibility because Putin could see it was all talk. They
and some money, but money's money, you know. Until you're
willing to put boots on the ground. Evil is going
to win, and Putin could see that good was surrendering
(09:02):
to evil and he took advantage of it. Now there's
a new sheriff in town. Now there's strength, and Prutin's
going to have to come to the table. Unfortunately, evil
will win because of Joe Biden, because of the Left,
because of European weakness. But Trump will have accomplished the
best that could be done. Right now eight fi' five
four zero five eight two five five text d A
(09:24):
N five seven seven three nine. And then at four
thirty six, Kim Cordova from the Union will join us
to talk about the end of the King super Strike
and who was it? Did Jimmy Sangenberger or maybe a
listener challenged me to ask her some tougher questions, And
I'm going to take that challenge up. That that was
an excellent suggestion, looking forward to that interview. You're on
(09:45):
the Dan Kapla show.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
This is gonna yet again raised.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
A concern about FAA staffing air traffic control staffing. Now,
this is a Canadian air traffic control tower and this
is under Canadian authority.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Once across the border.
Speaker 7 (10:13):
And yet, as you know, there has been this talk
about maybe staff cuts at the FAA as a part
of President Trump's effort to trim down the federal workforce.
And yet, as you also know, the FAA has been
complaining for years that they are understaffed and critical job positions, especially.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Air traffic control.
Speaker 7 (10:31):
I was having a conversation with somebody today about whether
air traffic control in America is being affected by the
staff cuts so far, not to their knowledge, and yet
other positions related to maintaining critical equipment appaired to have
been cuts. So this is going to feed into all
of these recent incidents, and the safety of the total
air traffic system is going to be very much a
(10:52):
part of the conversation as we go forward, at least
on this side of the country of the border.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I should say, yeah, you see, Trump has completely broken
the media arm of the Democratic Party, and I'd say
that's exhibit A. But we already have a through Z.
We're going to have to create some new letters for
the alphabet. That's Tom Costello from NBC News and I
remember Tom well, we were contemporaries. I think at the
time he was at Channel nine. Liked Tom he was
(11:19):
a good reporter, and so it's too bad right that
he's now part of the propaganda arm of NBC News.
But he's doing Trump an enormous favor, right, because that's
so goofy on its face, it's just going to cause
people to distrust the media even more. But I don't
know that that's physically possible, Ryan, because at this point,
(11:42):
I don't know that there's any significant level of trust
in the national media at all anywhere.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
No, so their popularity, Dan and Ryan, are you hearing me?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I certainly am, Yes, I am. Can you hear me?
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, I just got you back? Sorry there.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
You see, this is what happens, right when Ryan goes
out and he gets a new Ferrari or Bugatti, then
everybody expects him to go zero to one hundred and
two blocks. But you know, you got to let the
engine warm up and everything else. We've got new remote
broadcasting equipment. Today I'm hold away doing trial prep and
so we're using some new fancy broadcasting equipment that literally
(12:23):
costs more than the house I grew up in. And
I grew up in the most wonderful home you could
ever imagine. But of course, the better the equipment, the
worse it works. So sorry for that little glitch there,
but I think people got my point right that all
this leftist craziness, media craziness only helps Trump, only undermines
(12:44):
the media credibility further. But the question I had on
the table, Ryan, I don't think there's any meaningful credibility
left with the national media, at least with the people
in the middle. I don't think people trust them as
kind of neutral arbitrators anymore, or neutral reporters anymore. I
think that's all gone now.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Their approval ratings are somewhere around Mitch McConnell's and those
members of Congress that are well despised by both sides.
I think the media, like you said, it, has burned
through all of its political capital by jumping at every
single Trump narrative and taking the opposite position side, even
when that was not prudent for their coverage, for their ratings,
(13:24):
for their viewers or listeners. And what we just heard
there from Tom Costello, I mean, that's the stuff of parody.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
This is absolute his hysteriousness. Because this plane landed in Toronto.
The FAA had nothing to do with this plane. Descending landing,
et cetera. And to try to tie this to Trump
just makes them all the more ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
They can't pick their battles.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
It really does. But listen, Tom's a smart guy. I
knew him from his days here and NBC. Those are
smart people, right. I mean, they have a lot of
wrong leftist ideas things like that, but they're smart people intellectually.
I think what's going on, Ryan, and I'm not privy
to their daily ratings breakdown and all of that. I
think what's going on is they're under tremendous pressure from
(14:09):
their their viewership, you know which which is losing hope, right,
under tremendous pressure from their viewership implicitly to go on
the attack, to give them some reason to hope, to
give them some reason to hope that Trump's going to fail,
or those viewers are going to stop watching, right because
if all they're ever going to see is the success
(14:30):
of Donald Trump, which is ninety nine percent of the
true news, they're going to stop watching. So that's what
I think is going on. It's no less dishonest, it's
and it's no less helpful to Trump. But I think
that's what's behind this lunacy three oh three SEVENE three
A two five five the number text d A N
five seven seven three nine.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Kim Cordova, president.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Of the union that's been behind the King super strike,
will join us at four thirty six. We'll get into
the reasons to strike ended. And thank goodness it did.
I saw there's a text today celebrating the fact that
I can go back to King Soupers and get back
to my regular peanut butter.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So thank you to that texter.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I know that seems small to most people, which kind
of baffles me, because everybody has a favorite food, right
and if you can't access that favorite food because of
a strike, that's a little frustrating.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
What's your favorite food?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Well, it's not peanut butter, and certainly not right before
I go on the air, Dan, you really tempt fade
every single day, and I admire your dedication to the
peanut butter cause.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Bro, it's a challenge.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We all need that extra I mean, listen, when you've
been on air almost thirty years, and maybe it's more
than thirty years someday, can you figure that out for me?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Sure? Okay, but you need.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
New challenges because you know the stuff you're bad at,
you're not going to get better at. True, the stuff
you're good at, you're probably as good as you're going
to get. So you need some new challenges. So maybe
like duct tape over the mouth, eating peanut butter?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Are you going? I want to welcome Kelly back.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Kelly's back from just one of the toughest things anybody
ever has to do, which is burying her beloved father.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
But so glad to have Kelly back with us.
Speaker 8 (16:11):
Thank you, Dan, It's good to be back.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (16:15):
Yeah, returning one more time a week from Friday to
do the celebration of life reception. And but it was, yes,
probably the worst week of my life.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Oh yeah, yeah, everybody's right, everybody's when they lose a
parent and then God forbid a child.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I mean just yeah, the worst thing in the world.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
But so glad you're back with us. And it really
is interesting, isn't it, Kelly? And I think it's great
how things have changed and now often there's more time
to plan that big celebration of life.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It used to be that.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Like clockwork, right, I mean, those weeks were going to
happen in the first few days. The funeral had to
happen within four or five days. But I think it's
great now that there's more time.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Well, he definitely. Both my parents made it very easy
on all of us because they had pre planned this
in twenty fourteen, so we didn't have to do a
whole heck of a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Except for the.
Speaker 8 (17:22):
Picking out the burial clothes and you know, helping my
mom with I thing. She's eighty one, so she's also,
you know, not a sprite person to get around, and
so it was good that Adam and I and the
kids were there to help her go to the market
(17:43):
and help her, you know, get herself.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Boy, that is so true. Yeah, that is so true.
And so YEAHM so so glad you're back.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
And Andy, after this break in Cordova, head of the union,
will give you her tape on why the strike ended
and whether there's another one coming down the pike. And
then want to talk about these brave prominent restaurant owners
in Denver who are saying to Mayor Johnston, this place
is falling apart. Here on the Dan Kaplra show, get
(18:26):
down close to zero, We'll keep you warm here at
three oh three sevenon one three eight two five five
text Dan five seven seven three nine. Hey, President of
UFCW seven, Kim Cordova joins us talk about the end
of the King super strike. We're hoping for quite a while. Kim,
welcome back to the show.
Speaker 9 (18:45):
Hi damn, thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, sure thing, I think the big question people have
is what ended the strike and is this just buying
time or can we expect to be able to go
to King soupers now for a long time to.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
Well, what happened was, in my opinion that what got
us back together was we were successful in the restraining
order case where the company attempted to well, they filed
a complaint to seek a restraining order to limit the
you know, how many people can strike or the strikers
(19:23):
in general, and we were successful. So we went to
court on Thursday last week. We got a decision late
Friday evening and by Saturday, King sent a letter asking
to go back to the table, which had not happened prior.
But we negotiated over what that would look like, and
so we didn't accept our offer, and we've set in
(19:45):
terms of things that needed to be done in order
for us to come back to the table. And so
now we have an agreement to try to you know,
hopefully work through you know, our proposals, and I'm hoping
that the company negotiates with us.
Speaker 10 (20:01):
So, so, kid, is this a pause where we may
see strikers back on the line in another week or
two if the union doesn't feel the companies negotiating in
good faith?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Or is this a strike that has really ended?
Speaker 9 (20:16):
A strike is not? It's not totally ended for this
particularly those particular ulps. That strike is over, but the
we're you know, we're far from reaching the deal. We're
so far apart. So right now, the parties have agreed
that for at least one hundred dates they could not
lock out the workers. So you know, they had the
(20:38):
option to lock out, which we understand they were threatening
to do. We can't strike for one hundred days and
they cannot implement an offer for one hundred days, So
you know, we have some time to try to work
through it. And if not, I mean, you know, this
might I'm hoping that we can reach an agreement, but
(20:58):
if not, you know, we might have you know, we
might continue the fight. I mean, the fight might happen
outside of these stores.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Again, Well, Kim, let me ask you, Kim, Cordova, UFCW
seven President Kim. A lot of people are still confused
as to what the reason is for the strike. So
what exactly are you going to be negotiating right now?
Speaker 9 (21:21):
So right now we're trying to negotiate successor agreements. We're
negotiating for all the unionized stores for Kingsupers are on
the front range of Colorado, southern Colorado and the western
slopes of city markets. We have sixteen collective bargaining agreements
that we're negotiating over. We have, you know, city market
(21:42):
king Soopers. So there's about twenty i'm sorry, around twelve
thousand workers that these contracts cover, and so we are
trying to reach successor agreements now.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
But we may interrupt and I'm so sorry, just our
time constraints.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
What are the big issues though, because after we talked
last a lot of listeners had the good question, Wait
a second, it sounds like it's not over money. So
it's not over pay raises. It might be over having
more staffing. But but but what is the primary point
of contention right now?
Speaker 9 (22:16):
Well, there's several one. Staffing it's the number one you know,
it's the number one issue. We are trying to address.
So there's chronic staffing issues like I explained last time
we spoke. But also there are proposals on the table
that the company has regarding healthcare, you know, pension and
our retiree benefit. We have a down alone retire refund
(22:39):
in the company's proposing to take eight million dollars and
divert the money that would go into that fund into
another fund, and that would hurt a very vulnerable group
of we're you know, people that live on limited income,
and that's we're not going to allow that. There's also
we are actuary show that we're going to be about
forty one million dollars short on healthcare if we were
(23:02):
to agree to the company's proposal. We're not going to
agree to that. Our members just want to be able
to have you know, these stores fully staffed. They want
investment in staffing. Safety is a big deal. Like I
told you a lot of that. They have the shop
listing our members in the middle of all of the
crime that goes on and in these stores. But also
(23:23):
they want the ability to afford to buy the groceries
that they sell. And so even though King Soopers is
all over the airways and that they're offering a four
dollars and fifty cent wage increase that's over four years
and only to selected votes, so when we haven't got
to economics on our side yet. But their wage increases
are zero to twenty five percent for thousands of workers.
(23:45):
And so I mean, obviously that's the point of contention.
But healthcare, you know, we'll be bargaining over healthcare. We
submitted a proposal of the company will not agree to
as well as they're not offering any new money to
our pension plans, and so you know, that's the economic
piece of it. But the big piece is really that
(24:06):
we have been trying to get the company to recognize
that there are chronic staffing issues in those stores. The
customers see that when they're waiting in long lines, they
see empty shelves, they see departments closing early, and we've
seen an eighteen percent reduction since COVID. So even though
these stores are doing quite well, they are not replacing
(24:27):
bodies in the store, and there's not hours allocated to
actually perform the work.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Thank ye, let me ask you this if I may.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Our friend Jimmy Sangenberger, who's on this station, sometimes wrote
a column for the Denver Gazette with the headline strike
serves outside agenda, not local workers, and in part talked
about West Coast unions that it talked about, how, you know,
if they want to see local unions here, et cetera,
help them on the West coast transform the grocery indus street.
(25:00):
So is this a case where this strike was motivated
more by people outside of Colorado wanting to increase the
overall strength of the union rather than local issues.
Speaker 9 (25:13):
No, not at all. We may have we're the UFCW
and other unions represent workers with Kroger and Saeguay and Alberson's,
and there's systemic problems within the industry, but our strike
and our negotiations they're over our Colorado workers. They actually
take the vote, they walked out, you know. And so
(25:34):
this is these are local issues. I mean, we we
have other local unions around the country that have the
same type of you know, problems with Kroger and all that.
But when you talk about local or outside issue, Safeway
is I mean Kroger King Soopers is bargaining and coordinating
with Safeway, a whole different company, a different employer and
(25:57):
their competitor, and they brought in out side workers from
staffing agencies from the South to cross the picket line
and help move the company's agenda. So I didn't see
that piece about it. But this doesn't have anything to
do with West Coast and moving a West Coast agenda.
(26:17):
It's that we have common employers. We are one union
where the UFCW have the same international union, and our
interests we've you know, we had a coalition that to
block the merger. We were against the merger and our
interests were the same. I mean, we knew it all.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
It's so sorry interrupt.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Let me ask you one more question before the end
of this segment, and that is I'm sure a lot
of people listening have the same attitude I do, which
is why it looks like to strike largely succeeded. We
like King Soopers, we like the store, we like the company,
we like the people who work there. We want to
support the workers. At the same time, everybody listened, money's tight,
(27:01):
So I'm sure a question on folks minds is, okay,
is this now, this success by the union going to
mean that groceries become more expensive for the people listening
to this show.
Speaker 9 (27:15):
No, not at all. We haven't even gotcha economics. The
company is, you know, they have self checkout. You've seen
that the workers are not to blame for these high prices.
Everybody on your show, folks shouldn't give the path path
to Kroger when they just gave their shareholders seven point
five billion dollars in stop buybacks. And again, this is
(27:36):
a company that's very successful. The workers only want a
piece of the wealth that they create. They haven't received
a wage increase. Well, so when grocery prices are going up,
you're going through self checkout and you're having to do
a lot of this work at the register, and your
prices haven't went down. So while workers are doing more work,
(27:58):
they are not being able to give the level of
service for the price of the goods that are being
sold at that store. Our members are investors, their stakeholders.
They have to be able to even afford to buy
the groceries in their own stores, you know. And that's
the thing. And by the way, most of our members
are part time. And so when they're talking about a
(28:18):
four dollars fifty cent rate, the general public thinks that
things workers are getting that off the bat. Only selected workers,
thousands of workers under the company's proposal with see zero
to twenty five cents on part time hours.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And Kim, I have to get out right now for
a heartbreak, but thank you for being with us. And
I think the reason the strike succeeded is I think
people's experience over the years and decades with the King Soopers.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Employees they come in contact with has been.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Universally positive and so yeah, and everybody wants that to continue.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Kim, thanks for your time today.
Speaker 9 (28:55):
Thanks Dan, Happy, thank you you.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Take care of that is Kim Cordova from the union.
When we come back Denver restaurant owners telling Mayor Johnston
the city is falling apart around them.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
You're on the Dan Kapla show.
Speaker 11 (29:19):
Well, he was standing in a country where free speech
was weaponized to kentuct a genocide, and he met with
the head of a political party that has far right
views and some historic ties to extreme groups. The context
of that was changing the tone of it, and you
(29:43):
know that that the censorship.
Speaker 6 (29:44):
I disagree with you specifically about the right now I
have to disagree with you.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
It has to be one of the top five stupidest
things ever said on television anywhere.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
In the world.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
And you know me, I don't use that word stupid
as a pejorative. I only use it when there's no
other word that will capture it. That's Margaret Brennan. She
is an intelligent person. Now she's a Lefty, so she
has a lot of bad ideas, but she's an intelligent person.
So she's sitting there on National TV in America saying
(30:18):
that the horrors of the Holocaust were caused by free speech.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I mean, an infant.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Would know that's laughable. So what's really going on. That's
my point. My point isn't oh, look at Margaret Brennan,
she's stupid. No, My point is that what the left
has realized right now and what it realized a long
time ago, is if there is free speech, the left loses.
It's that simple. If there is free speech, the left
loses because the left's ideas are bad that the facts
(30:48):
disproved the left, logic disproves the left, basic morality disproves
the left. So if people are allowed free speech, the
left loses. That's what those comments were all about. So
now Margaret Brennan, at the level of top level of
CBS and faced the nation has to take the position
(31:09):
that it's free speech that caused the Holocaust. That's how
dangerous free speech is. So that's what's really going on,
and that's another reason this last election was so critical.
His free speech was on the line, and it's just
like Polish. He came out the day after he was
elected governor and said, now people have to keep their
faith out of the public square. And that's another version
(31:32):
of this right because he knows if people practice their faith,
if they vote their faith, the left loses.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Same point.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
If people are free, free to practice their religion freely
and openly, free to live their religion, including in the
way they vote. And that doesn't mean Catholics voting for Catholics. Hey,
some of the worst you know people out there when
it comes to undermining church teaching when they're elected office,
are Catholics. No, this is about vote being the principles
(32:01):
of your face. So police knows the left nose. If
if people have free speech, freedom of religion, the left loses.
That's why Margaret Brennan was driven to say something that
stupid and crazy. They are desperate on the left, and
that's good because they're exposing themselves now for who they
really are. Let's go to Dean and Arvada to kick
(32:21):
off our callers. You're on the Dan Kaplis show. Welcome Dan,
He Dan.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
How you doing?
Speaker 2 (32:29):
I am living the dream? How about you?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yun about that?
Speaker 9 (32:33):
Hey?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
It was calling. The last Hilary had was the lady
from King Supers, the head of the year. The question
I have is the question I have is why she's
so concerned about staffing. She's not one Looking at propt
and Lost Stavens. People only get eight hours of workout
of them. It's not like they're doing the job of
three people.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Oh but forgive me, my friend.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Have you been in an understaffed situation and your experience
sat King Supers, because you're gonna have yours.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I own, I own two companies.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Okay, great, So do you shop at King Soupers?
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Okay, so you can size it up for yourself. My
experience is that people who work at King Supers are great,
and that there is understaffing, and that understaffing affects the
consumer experience. But I've got to believe it makes it
harder on each worker.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
I understand.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
I honestly, I haven't seen problems with my customer service.
Do you self checkout four different ones.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah, okay, I hate it, and listen, I do a
lot of tough stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
I do a lot of hard work. I hate self checkout.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
If I'm about to pay one hundred and two hundred
bucks for groceries, I at least want to wheel my
card and have a nice conversation with the cashier. I
don't want to go and be scanning my barcodes. I
know it sounds small. I just hate it, so more
and more often I have to self check out. That
affects my customer experience. You may enjoy self checkout for
other people. I could see it being arresting.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Yeah, I actually do like it. Okay, Look, I mean
that's the only issue is the stuff checkout. It seems
like you know, she's worried about I mean she's not
why on the bottom line of these stores?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Well?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
But but how is the bottom line at King Sooper's
Right now? It looks pretty good to me? I mean,
what what?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
What was?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
And this is not a fair question to you. You're
a hard working man, you're running your businesses. You don't
have time to look at this stuff. But what would
you guess that the profit net bottom line profit, not
gross revenue net profit of Kroger was last year.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Well, I heard it was billions. I don't know if
it's sure enough.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Seven and a half? What billion?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah, no, I think it was more like three and
a half. But they're not going broken. And hey, my friend,
you're you're a great caller. I'm a business owner like
you are. I'm sensitive to all the same issues you are.
If you want to hang on, we'd love to have you.
You're on the Dankapla Show.
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