They did it. Workers for the trendy Trader Joe’s grocery chain have their first union. The win happened at a store in Hadley, Massachusetts. The chain joins the ranks of other high-profile companies like Starbucks and Amazon to go union this year.
As hip and progressive as Trader Joe’s likes to portray itself, it refused to voluntarily recognize the labor union, leading to a National Labor Relations Board election.
The pro-union workers won that election today with 45 yes to 31 no votes.
“Trader Joe’s workers at the Hadley store cited the degradation of their benefits, health and safety concerns related to the pandemic, and pay as the impetus for forming an independent union at their store. Some workers at the store make $16 an hour,” The Washington Post reported. “The minimum wage in Massachusetts is $14.25 an hour.”
With over 500 locations, Trader Joe’s has many employees who are no doubt motivated by today’s victory to organize their stores. Hopefully, Trader Joe’s management learns from the enormous waste of time and resources by Starbucks in its own union-busting campaign and, instead, elects to stay out of the union decision among its workers.
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