TJ’s Union Drive in Boulder, CO on the Rocks?

The Trader Joe’s union in Boulder, CO has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board to call out the supermarket chain’s alleged use of a long menu of illegal, union-busting tactics. As a result of the corporation’s campaign against its organizing employees, the union UFCW Local 7 has temporarily withdrawn the election petition while the NLRB processes the allegations.

The union busting kerfuffle comes on the heels of successful union drives at Trader Joe’s locations in Hadley, MA and Minneapolis, MN. Corporate leadership retained the legal services of the notorious union busting firm Littler Mendelson, the same law firm used by Starbucks to squash its organizing workforce.

The allegations against Trader Joe’s include:

• 8(a)(1) Coercive Statements (Threats, Promises of Benefits, etc.)

• 8(a)(1) Concerted Activities (Retaliation, Discharge, Discipline)

• 8(a)(1) Coercive Rules

• 8(a)(1) Interrogation (including Polling)

• 8(a)(3) Discipline

Trader Joe’s union busting strategy uses both the carrot and the stick. Along with hostile tactics detailed above, the corporation announced compensation increases, strategically-timed to blunt unionizing momentum. The workers at the Boulder location were not entirely impressed. The Guardian spoke to employee Aspen McKinzie:

“It’s very much a shallow attempt to discourage people from unionizing by trying to make them feel like their employer is actually taking care of them. But none of this is secured and they can take it away whenever they want,” said McKinzie. “If they really care that much about us, they’d be paying us a lot more rather than paying a bunch of union busting lawyers to feed lines to our management.”

Shallow attempt, to be sure, but effective enough to stall the election petition. The NLRB will investigate the allegations filed by UFCW Local 7. There has been some successful pushback against union busting activities in recent months, such as the reinstatement of the Memphis 7 and more. But the case docket at the understaffed NLRB is long.

Corporations like Trader Joe’s are coming to see short-term, non-guaranteed promises of increased pay and benefits as the preferred alternative to a unionized workforce that would have a permanent seat at the negotiating table. The long-term interest of their workers, however, is clear: negotiating contracts that can’t be reneged on a whim.

Will the Boulder, CO union drive recover its momentum? Stay tuned as the story develops.

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