As far as bad behavior of Big Labor leaders goes, we pay much attention to the most outwardly combative pair, the UAW’s Shawn Fain and the Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien. Those two international union leaders share a name but are controversial for very different reasons. For starters, Fain is the focus of many federal watchdog reports that showcase his profanity-filled, retaliatory ways, and O’Brien has become an unlikely bedfellow with GOP senators while co-authoring legislation and befriending former rivals.
Lately, another union leader, UFCW Local President Kim Cordova, has been making headlines. Elected in 2009, Cordova is behind the JBS meatpacking strike, in which 3,800 workers have been on strike since Mar. 16 in Greeley, Colorado. Naturally, a war of words is afoot involving the first meatpacking strike in 40 years.
The company maintains that UFCW refused to allow workers to vote on their most recent contract offer, which Cordova alleges is too similar to a national deal struck in 2025. Yet she conveniently omits how the union lauded that deal as “historic” with “major wins” on wages, benefits, and safety. UFCW International VP Mark Lauritsen even praised the company: “Every employer in the meatpacking industry should follow JBS’s leadership and reintroduce pension plans for the hard-working men and women who keep America fed.”
This kind of inconsistency in union leadership shouldn’t be too surprising, but as the leader of a local that represents around 23,000 grocery and meatpacking workers, Cordova is polarizing for several other reasons:
Unfair labor practices: In Feb. 2014, an ALJ ruled that Cordova violated the NLRA by attempting to shut down UFCW Local 7’s staff union, the Federation of Agents & International Representatives Union (FAIR). The judge also found that the local refused to bargain with FAIR and asked members to resign when they lodged complaints about working conditions.
King Soopers strike fallout: In May 2025, 100+ union members called for Cordova’s resignation while citing “unacceptable mismanagement” of the 11-day strike against King Soopers. Additionally, the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation provided legal aid to workers who accused the union of illegally fining them for refusing to join the strike.
Data breach scandal: In Dec. 2024, UFCW Local 7 suffered a cyberattack exposing the names and Social Security numbers of 55,000+ current and former members. The union did not notify members of this breach until Sept. 2025, and although Local 7 is headquartered in Colorado, the news came to light through the Maine Attorney General, which published the notification in regard to the 28 Maine residents whose data was included in the breach.
Cordova issued no public statement on this breach, but one social media user did not hold back with a blunt response: “You waited almost a year to tell us… Negligence is an understatement. I know you love to withhold information (contracts). Have fun with those Class Action Law Suits [sic].”
Early nepotism allegations: After Cordova was elected in 2009, unknown parties hacked the Local 7 email server and sent out a message to accuse Cordova of nepotism, making false promises, and “recommend[ing] that members accept an inadequate grocery management contract.”
A Record That Speaks For Itself
The JBS meatpacking strike is in its third week, but even as a fifth-term union president, Cordova’s ability to lead it may be undermined by her own record. A data breach kept secret for nine months, legal losses, and a Facebook group uniting members against her “ego monster” leadership are reminders that union leaders don’t always have members’ best interests at heart.
