Trader Joe’s workers push to unionize amid wave of organizing efforts

theguardian.com:

Organizers have begun a unionization campaign at the upscale supermarket chain Trader Joe’s after workers at a branch in Hadley, Massachusetts, announced they were forming a union and intend to file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election.

It would be the first unionized Trader Joe’s store out ofmore than 530 locations in the US. Workers are organizing independently, citing the similar framework of the Amazon Labor Union, which is not affiliated with traditional, established labor unions.

“We organized ourselves. With the same instinctive teamwork we use every day to break pallets, work the load, bag groceries, and care for our customers, we joined together to look out for each other and improve our workplace together,” workers wrote in an announcement letter to Trader Joe’s CEO, Dan Bane.

The union organizing announcement is the latest among a wave of union campaigns at corporations that have previously staved off unionization, including at Starbucks, Amazon, REI, and union elections filed at Target and Apple.

Trader Joe’s was one of several employers that pushed back on organizing efforts and complaints from workers about its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and calls for hazard pay.

Early in the pandemic, Bane sent a company-wide memo to all employees expressing opposition for unionization within the company. In their announcement, workers cited the company-wide letter, arguing that the company has slashed wages and benefits for workers since then, and they see unionizing as the only way to protect themselves from further cuts.

“We’re organizing because it feels more and more like we don’t have a say in decisions that the company makes, decisions that directly impact our day-to-day