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UFCW Local 7
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 was chartered in 1965 and represents roughly 25,000 workers across Colorado and Wyoming in grocery, meatpacking,...
UFCW Local 7
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 was chartered in 1965 and represents roughly 25,000 workers across Colorado and Wyoming in grocery, meatpacking, food processing, and health care. Its pension arm, the Rocky Mountain UFCW Unions and Employers Pension Plan, operates as a multi-employer Taft-Hartley fund — jointly trusted by union and employer representatives. President Kim Cordova has held the top union office since 2010, with Secretary-Treasurer Ramon Zuniga serving as the local's other ranking officer. The plan's assets support defined-benefit obligations for a membership concentrated in Kroger-owned chains, Safeway, and JBS meatpacking facilities. The pension plan pursues a deliberately broad mandate spanning buyout, growth equity, mezzanine debt, distressed credit, natural resources, and secondary fund acquisitions. Public investment records show allocations across private equity fund-of-funds vehicles, direct co-investments, and niche strategies including energy and mining partnerships. The fund's fiduciary posture has grown more activist in recent years: Cordova's Local 7 anchored the Stop the Merger Coalition alongside UFCW Locals 324, 400, 770, 1564, and 3000 to challenge the proposed Kroger-Albertsons combination on antitrust and labor-market grounds. The coalition's intervention — first filed with the FTC in 2022 and pursued through federal court in 2024 — marked one of the most coordinated union-led merger oppositions in the grocery sector in decades. With an estimated $1.27 billion in plan assets (Altss estimate), the fund maintains a lean operational footprint spread across seven offices from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Pueblo, Colorado. Its Wheat Ridge headquarters houses the core investment and administrative team, while satellite offices in Grand Junction, Greeley, and Colorado Springs reflect the union's geographic density in retail and processing hubs. The local also maintains a dedicated strike fund and a scholarship program for members' families — vehicles structured outside the pension trust but amplifying the organization's community-embedded profile. In 2024, the plan's leadership continued to deploy capital across private markets commitments while simultaneously litigating the Kroger merger through the U.S. District Court in Oregon. The plan's structural differentiator is its role as a multi-employer pension fund embedded within an actively litigating labor organization. Unlike a conventional state pension or corporate plan, the Rocky Mountain UFCW fund's fiduciary calculus intersects directly with collective bargaining strategy, merger oversight, and industry-concentration fights that shape the profitability of the very companies in which it invests. That dual posture — allocator and antagonist — creates a governance dynamic that few institutional investors replicate.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
1965
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Wheat Ridge
Corporate office
7760 W. 38th Ave, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
Additional offices
Arvada, CO · Colorado Springs, CO · Cheyenne, WY · Grand Junction, CO · Greeley, CO · Pueblo, CO
Principals
Kim Cordova
President
Ramon Zuniga
Secretary-Treasurer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at the Rocky Mountain UFCW Pension Plan?
Investment and administrative oversight rests with a board of trustees composed of union and employer representatives, as required under Taft-Hartley multi-employer plan rules. Kim Cordova, UFCW Local 7's president since 2010, is the union's most senior officer and helps designate the union-side trustees. The fund's day-to-day investment management is delegated to external managers across its private equity, credit, and real-asset portfolios.
How is the UFCW Local 7 pension fund structured relative to the union itself?
The Rocky Mountain UFCW Unions and Employers Pension Plan is a legally separate Taft-Hartley multi-employer trust. It pools contributions from participating employers across Colorado and Wyoming under collectively bargained agreements. The plan operates as a reciprocal fund with the UFCW Unions and Employers Midwest Health and Pension Funds, meaning workers moving between contributing employers can carry service credits across plans.
What is the Stop the Merger Coalition, and why did UFCW Local 7 anchor it?
The coalition comprises six UFCW locals — 7, 324, 400, 770, 1564, and 3000 — formed to oppose the $24.6 billion Kroger-Albertsons merger. Local 7 took a leading role because a significant portion of its members work at Kroger-owned King Soopers and Safeway stores in Colorado. The coalition first petitioned the FTC in 2022 and later joined the federal antitrust lawsuit, arguing the merger would reduce grocery competition, suppress wages, and close stores in already-consolidated markets.
Does the plan invest directly in operating companies or only through funds?
The plan's strategy spans direct co-investments alongside private equity sponsors, fund-of-funds commitments, and allocations to buyout, growth equity, mezzanine, distressed debt, and natural resources funds. Public filings suggest a mix of primary fund commitments and selected direct co-investment opportunities, though the precise split between direct and indirect deployment is not publicly disclosed.
What is the plan's known posture on ESG or labor-friendly investing?
As a union-affiliated pension fund, the plan operates under a fiduciary framework that prioritizes risk-adjusted returns to meet defined-benefit obligations. Its activism has focused on antitrust and labor-market concentration rather than formal ESG screens. The Kroger-Albertsons litigation reveals a preference for using bargaining and regulatory leverage alongside — rather than solely within — the investment portfolio to advance worker interests.
Which states and employers does the plan cover?
The plan covers unionized grocery, meatpacking, food-processing, and health care workers in Colorado and Wyoming. Major participating employers include Kroger-owned banners — most prominently King Soopers and City Market — as well as Safeway, JBS USA beef and pork processing facilities, and regional health care providers under UFCW Local 7 bargaining agreements.
How does the pension fund relate to the union's strike fund and scholarship program?
The UFCW Local 7 Strike Fund and UFCW Local 7 Scholarship Fund are separate organizational vehicles maintained by the union, not the pension trust. The strike fund supports members during work stoppages; the scholarship fund provides educational grants to members' families. Neither vehicle draws on pension assets, preserving the firewall between defined-benefit obligations and union-operating activity.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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