A Second Trader Joe’s Just Voted To Unionize
Colleen Michaels/Shutterstock By Elaina Friedman/June 29, 2022 5:21 pm EST
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that Trader Joe’s workers in Hadley, Massachusetts had become the first employees of the grocery chain to file for a union election. Workers alleged a host of management-related complaints, from inadequate health and safety protections to scheduling transgressions to free speech violations. Talk of unionization started spreading around the store, backed by the independent nonprofit Trader Joe’s United, and before long, a Trader Joe’s worker was told to go home for refusing to remove a pro-union pin from their hat (via HuffPost).
Hadley workers may have been the first to push for unionization at Trader Joe’s, but they’re far from the only ones to speak out about unsavory working conditions at the company. Last year, TJ’s made headlines when an employee was fired for requesting COVID-19 protections, such as stricter face mask policies. More recently, a group of TJ’s workers in New York City’s Murray Hill neighborhood became angry with store management for failing to inform them of an active shooter threat in the store, per a video shared on Reddit. A couple of months before that, Trader Joe’s lost a $44,000 employee lawsuit for violating a Seattle law related to employee scheduling. On Tuesday, More Perfect Union tweeted that a second Trader Joe’s store has filed for a union vote, this time in Minneapolis.
A Second Trader Joe’s Just Voted To Unionize
Colleen Michaels/Shutterstock
By Elaina Friedman/June 29, 2022 5:21 pm EST
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that Trader Joe’s workers in Hadley, Massachusetts had become the first employees of the grocery chain to file for a union election. Workers alleged a host of management-related complaints, from inadequate health and safety protections to scheduling transgressions to free speech violations. Talk of unionization started spreading around the store, backed by the independent nonprofit Trader Joe’s United, and before long, a Trader Joe’s worker was told to go home for refusing to remove a pro-union pin from their hat (via HuffPost).
Hadley workers may have been the first to push for unionization at Trader Joe’s, but they’re far from the only ones to speak out about unsavory working conditions at the company. Last year, TJ’s made headlines when an employee was fired for requesting COVID-19 protections, such as stricter face mask policies. More recently, a group of TJ’s workers in New York City’s Murray Hill neighborhood became angry with store management for failing to inform them of an active shooter threat in the store, per a video shared on Reddit. A couple of months before that, Trader Joe’s lost a $44,000 employee lawsuit for violating a Seattle law related to employee scheduling. On Tuesday, More Perfect Union tweeted that a second Trader Joe’s store has filed for a union vote, this time in Minneapolis.
Hadley workers may have been the first to push for unionization at Trader Joe’s, but they’re far from the only ones to speak out about unsavory working conditions at the company. Last year, TJ’s made headlines when an employee was fired for requesting COVID-19 protections, such as stricter face mask policies. More recently, a group of TJ’s workers in New York City’s Murray Hill neighborhood became angry with store management for failing to inform them of an active shooter threat in the store, per a video shared on Reddit. A couple of months before that, Trader Joe’s lost a $44,000 employee lawsuit for violating a Seattle law related to employee scheduling.
On Tuesday, More Perfect Union tweeted that a second Trader Joe’s store has filed for a union vote, this time in Minneapolis.
