https://sputnikglobe.com/20220608/massachusetts-trader-joes-workers-file-for-union-vote-in-potential-first-for-grocery-chain-1096136622.html
Massachusetts Trader Joe’s Workers File for Union Vote in Potential First for Grocery Chain
Massachusetts Trader Joe’s Workers File for Union Vote in Potential First for Grocery Chain
Sputnik International
Trader Joe’s workers in western Massachusetts are just the latest to push for union representation amid a growing drive by US workers to seek collective... 08.06.2022, Sputnik International
2022-06-08T23:52+0000
2022-06-08T23:52+0000
2022-08-06T13:29+0000
labor union
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massachusetts
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According to the Boston Globe, a store in Hadley, just north of Springfield, filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday. It could become the first of more than 530 Trader Joe's stores to be represented collectively in negotiations with their employer. The company shares an owner with German grocery store chain Aldi.Following the trend set by Amazon and Starbucks workers, Trader Joe’s “crew members” are seeking to be represented by a labor union of their own creation - Trader Joe’s United - instead of a larger union.About 85 workers are employed at the Hadley store, more than half of whom reportedly support unionization, according to a lead organizer.According to the organizers, while early in the COVID-19 pandemic Trader Joe’s rigidly enforced safety measures such as mask-wearing and limits on customers inside the store, the company was also quick to roll back many of those protections as soon as vaccines became widely available in early 2021. Additional pay disappeared as well. As variants such as the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19 emerged, which can evade immune protections, outbreaks among workers became increasingly common.They also said they had not been informed that Boston had passed a law requiring employers to give workers up to five paid days off because of COVID-19.Many of the other workplaces across the US that have sought union representation over the last two years have been driven by similar concerns, including Amazon and Starbucks, and many with established union representation went on strike over COVID-19 safety issues. One concentrated period of union activity in which nearly 100,000 US workers walked out of their jobs in protest or threatened to do so led to activists dubbing October 2021 “Striketober.”Despite its reputation for cheery customer service, Trader Joe’s has strongly resisted union organizing efforts over the years, with CEO Dan Bane sending employees a letter early in the pandemic addressing “the current barrage of union activity that has been directed at Trader Joe’s” by organizers who “clearly believe that now is a moment when they can create some sort of wedge in our company through which they can drive discontent.”Union membership in the US has halved since 1983, with just 11% of workers being represented by unions in 2020, largely thanks to an unceasing wave of industrial closures and flight driven by neoliberal economic policies and labor busting that at times was conducted by the US president. However, recent polls show that support for labor unions is at its highest level in half a century. According to a Gallup poll in August 2021, 68% of Americans approve of unions, with 78% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 approving.
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https://sputnikglobe.com/20220506/us-labor-agency-to-accuse-amazon-of-union-busting-practices-in-alus-new-york-drive---reports-1095324095.html
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labor union, grocery store, massachusetts, us
labor union, grocery store, massachusetts, us
Massachusetts Trader Joe’s Workers File for Union Vote in Potential First for Grocery Chain
23:52 GMT 08.06.2022 (Updated: 13:29 GMT 06.08.2022) Trader Joe’s workers in western Massachusetts are just the latest to push for union representation amid a growing drive by US workers to seek collective bargaining for better pay and working conditions.
According to
the Boston Globe, a store in Hadley, just north of Springfield, filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday. It could become the first of more than 530 Trader Joe's stores to be represented collectively in negotiations with their employer. The company shares an owner with German grocery store chain Aldi.
Following the trend
set by Amazon and
Starbucks workers, Trader Joe’s “crew members” are seeking to be represented by a labor union of their own creation - Trader Joe’s United - instead of a larger union.
About 85 workers are employed at the Hadley store, more than half of whom reportedly support unionization, according to a lead organizer.
“Over the past however many years, changes have been happening without our consent,” Maeg Yosef, an 18-year employee of the store and a leader of the union drive, told the
New York Times. “We wanted to be in charge of the whole process, to be our own union. So we decided to go independent.”
According to the organizers, while early in the COVID-19 pandemic Trader Joe’s rigidly enforced safety measures such as mask-wearing and limits on customers inside the store, the company was also quick to roll back many of those protections as soon as vaccines became widely available in early 2021. Additional pay disappeared as well. As variants such as the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19 emerged, which can evade immune protections, outbreaks among workers became increasingly common.
They also said they had not been informed that Boston had passed a law requiring employers to
give workers up to five paid days off because of COVID-19.
“It was in effect [for] seven months, and they never announced it,” Yosef said of the law. “I figured that out at the end of December, early January [2022].”
Many of the other workplaces across the US that have sought union representation over the last two years have been driven by similar concerns, including Amazon and Starbucks, and many with established union representation went on strike over COVID-19 safety issues. One
concentrated period of union activity in which nearly 100,000 US workers walked out of their jobs in protest or threatened to do so led to activists dubbing October 2021 “Striketober.”
Despite its reputation for cheery customer service, Trader Joe’s has strongly resisted union organizing efforts over the years, with CEO Dan Bane
sending employees a letter early in the pandemic addressing “the current barrage of union activity that has been directed at Trader Joe’s” by organizers who “clearly believe that now is a moment when they can create some sort of wedge in our company through which they can drive discontent.”
“Overall, it does not matter to these union advocates if their 'allegations' are true or not. They clearly believe now is a moment when they can create some sort of wedge in our company through which they can drive discontent, by claiming only joining their union will protect the pay and benefits you currently enjoy,” the letter continued.
Union membership in the US has halved since 1983, with just 11% of workers being represented by unions in 2020, largely thanks to an unceasing wave of industrial closures and flight driven by neoliberal economic policies and labor busting that at times was conducted by the US president. However, recent polls show that support for labor unions is at its highest level in half a century.
According to a Gallup poll in August 2021, 68% of Americans approve of unions, with 78% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 approving.
