On Thursday, workers at 77 King Soopers stores across the Denver metro area started a strike after months of negotiations.

The strike will affect 77 stores in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties, as well as in Boulder and Louisville.

After months-long negotiations between King Soopers and its union employees, more than 8,500 King Soopers employees went on strike across the Denver metro and Front Range.

From Speer to the southern 'burbs, we were always excited to find what was in store. But until the picketing ends — no more.

Some of the key sticking points are staffing shortages, health care reserves, price gouging, and eliminating seniority-based scheduling protections.

Legal battles continue as the strike at King Soopers locations across Colorado's Front Range near one week. As the strike continues, ripple effects are impacting more than just grocery store workers and store earnings;

King Soopers said they were working to file a temporary restraining order as strikes continue throughout Colorado.

King Soopers says it's an issue of customer safety. The union says it's an attempt to silence and intimidate picketers.

The union representing striking King Soopers workers has denounced a lawsuit filed by the grocery chain that calls the workers' actions "unsafe." The union said King Soopers was trying to "silence its own workers.