The workers at a Williamsburg, Brooklyn location of Trader Joe’s filed a petition to unionize on Friday, 23 September. The national grocery chain has seen two other locations in Massachusetts and Minnesota successfully unionize in recent months. Another location in Manhattan was shuttered in August by the company just as it was on the verge of unionizing (the company denies the thriving store was shut down to avoid recognizing the union).

The NLRB filing indicates that the 185 workers in Brooklyn have affiliated with Trader Joe’s United, joining the same union as the Massachusetts and Minnesota locations.

Jacobin posted a good interview with a worker at the Brooklyn store who was fired for organizing.

Trader Joe’s response to the union wave in its ranks has employed both the carrot and the stick. On the carrot-side, the company announced promises of increased pay and compensation in the middle of union drives. Industry observers note that the promise of short term rewards, which can be rolled back at any time or never delivered at all, can be an effective strategy for muting employee enthusiasm for following through on union efforts.

On the stick-side, Trader Joe’s has experimented with different types of union-busting efforts to scare or intimidate a workforce in the middle of unionizing. The Trader Joe’s workers at a location in Boulder, CO recently filed a union-busting complaint against the company with the NLRB. The complaint included a number of allegations that are illegal under the National Labor Relations Act, including Concerted Activities (Retaliation, Discharge, Discipline), Coercive Statements, and Interrogation.

With the Brooklyn store organizing, corporate leadership at Trader Joe’s has another opportunity to be on the right side of labor laws. The filed petition needs to demonstrate at least 30% pro-union interest among the workers in order to trigger a final vote to say yes or no to unionizing. The final vote needs at least 50% of the eligible voters affirming the union for the Brooklyn workers to be recognized as a collective bargaining unit, represented by Trader Joe’s United. 

Alternatively, the company can voluntarily recognize the union, forgoing the need for a final vote. Sometimes leadership will choose this option in order to avoid lengthy public battles with its own workforce. For example, this month Major League Baseball voluntarily recognized its minor league players as part of the same collective bargaining unit as its major league players, both now represented by the MLBPA. 

Given the aggressive pushback in Boulder and elsewhere, however, the need for a final vote at the Brooklyn location looks likely. Stay tuned as this story develops.