As shoppers entered the Westlake King Soopers on Sunday, they passed a sign recruiting temporary workers, right, if temporary workers are needed in case of a work stoppage. (Photos by Terry Frei / tfrei@greeleytribune.com)

Not only were the “SEEKING TEMPORARY WORKERS” signs positioned at King Soopers entrances hard to miss Sunday, but so were the differences between those signs in Greeley stores and in Denver area stores.

The signs in Greeley specified that the stores were seeking applications for temporary workers only in the meat department.

Adam Williamson, King Soopers’ Denver-based corporate affairs manager, said Sunday that’s because the chain’s stores on the extreme north side of the Denver metropolitan area, and then farther north, including in Greeley, generally are “union only in the meat department. The rest of the store is union free.”

Note the strip taped on the sign at the Westlake King Soopers on Sunday, specifying any temporary hires wouldn’t be store-wide.

Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 on Friday voted to authorize a strike at King Soopers. That didn’t mean union workers would walk out immediately, but rather that union officials had clearance to declare a strike was on if negotiations don’t resume and/or an agreement isn’t reached.

The union has more than 12,000 members employed at King Soopers and City Markets in Colorado. It has more than 22,000 members in Colorado and Wyoming.

At King Soopers’ Denver-area outlets, the original signs were unaltered Sunday. They said the stores were “taking applications for temporary workers as a precautionary measure due to a potential labor dispute with the U.F.C.W. Local 7. . . We will be hiring temporary workers for various positions.”

The next two lines on those signs said, “Some locations may have Meat and/or Deli Positions ONLY.”

Here’s the temporary workers sign at the King Soopers at 17th and Sheridan in Edgewater, across the street from Sloan’s Lake and Denver. This is not a contest, but note the slight differences in the two lines near the bottom of this sign compared to the ones in Greeley.

At the Greeley stores, strips of paper were taped over those two lines, and those strips in slightly different words said that applications for temporary work – which would pay $15 an hour, $3.90 above Colorado’s 2019 minimum wage – involved the meat department.

At the NorthGate Village store, 6922 W. 10th St., the added strip of paper said, “We will be hiring Temporary Workers in Meat Department.”

At the Westlake King Soopers, 2100 35th Ave., the strip said, “Hiring for MEAT Department Only.” That’s where journeyman meat cutter Doug Irwin works.

“We want affordable, living wages; we want good health care; we want a good, strong pension,” Irwin told the Tribune’s Trevor Reid last week. “And I would say most people want career jobs.”

Williamson, the King Soopers spokesman, emphasized the recruitment of applications for temporary workers was a precaution.

“The signs are only there if we have to cover for a strike, which we are all hoping doesn’t happen,” Williamson said.

He said replacement meat department workers would not have to be certified meat cutters because they wouldn’t be cutting, but “would mainly be stocking pre-cut items.”

Meat and fish department at the Westlake King Soopers. This is the one area there might be “temporary” workers in the event of a strike by UFCW Local 7.

A visit to the pitched job listings on the King Soopers site Tuesday (updated) showed nine available positions at the three Greeley stores. “Temporary worker” and retail clerk positions were listed for all three King Soopers.

In addition, the Westlake store listed openings for certified pharmacy technician and non-certified pharmacy technician. The NorthGate Village store also listed grocery night crew clerk. The third store, at Hillside Mall/University Center, 2712 11th Ave., had no additional openings listed.

If a strike is called, and it only involves the meat departments of Greeley stores, the issues remains about whether shoppers would shy away from crossing any picket line; if non-union store workers would be reluctant to cross a picket line to go to work; and how “replacement” workers would be received.

It was a busy Sunday at the NorthGate Village King Soopers.

Of course, that all becomes academic if an agreement is reached before a strike is called. Bargaining between the union and management has been ongoing since November.

The contract expired Jan. 12, but has remained in force.

– Terry Frei writes features and columns for The Tribune. He’s the author of seven books, including “’77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age.” He can be reached at (970) 392-4424 or tfrei@greeleytribune.com. His website is http://www.terryfrei.com. Twitter: @tfrei