A general strike on Jan. 12 by employees at Denver area Kroger’s King Soopers grocery store appears likely following the breakdown of negotiations between the company and a workers union after offers of federal mediation were rejected on Jan. 7. The workers union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents more than 8,700 workers in the Colorado stores, has no plans to return to the bargaining table. Fifty-eight percent of King Soopers full-time employees in metro-area stores are unionized. King Soopers, the local brand of Kroger, is the largest grocery chain in Colorado and operates more than 100 stores in the state. Sales boomed during the pandemic, with shares of Kroger last week hitting a record high. Many full-time store employees, facing the brunt of the pandemic and suffering from deteriorating wages, say they are upset at the company’s treatment of them. More than two-thirds of Kroger workers …