Trader Joe’s workers vote for union in California, reject union in New York

Workers at a Trader Joe’s in Oakland, California, voted in favor of unionizing late last week, becoming the fourth store to do so since last summer.

A union vote at the grocer’s Essex Crossing store in New York City, however, ended in a tie and did not receive the necessary 50%-plus one of the votes to succeed.

Trader Joe’s United, the grocer’s independent union, shared the results via Twitter, noting that the Oakland store won its union election 73 -53 and Essex tied 76-76.

Trader Joe’s workers have tried unsuccessfully several times to unionize in New York City, most recently last fall in Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Workers there voted 94-66 against unionizing last October.

The union blamed the failures on corporate efforts to stop the organizing activity.

“The company’s massive NYC stores are a challenge and corporate union-busting is a beast, but we will not stop fighting for each other and for the working conditions we deserve,” the Essex Crossing Organizing Committee said in a statement late Thursday. “This is not the end for Essex, and it’s for sure not the end for New York City.”

Trader Joe’s has not commented on the recent union votes.

But the Monrovia, California-based grocer in February filed an objection with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to a union election in Louisville, Kentucky, the previous month, saying workers there were subject to “an atmosphere of fear and coercion” that interfered with a fair vote. That vote certification has since been on hold.

In July, Trader Joe’s workers in Hadley, Massachusetts, voted 45-31 in favor of becoming the retailer’s first unionized store. The following month, employees of a Minneapolis Trader Joe’s also voted to join Trader Joe’s United.

The grocer and its union have been at the bargaining table this year, with union organizers requesting a starting wage of $30 per hour, including adjustments for seniority and annual increases. The union is also seeking no-premium health care benefits, as well as increased paid time off and retirement contributions.

Trader Joe’s United organizers have said the pandemic ignited their fight to unionize.

“We really just were grocery store workers who started to talk about how a union could benefit us,” organizer Maeg Yosef, an 18-year veteran of Trader Joe’s, told WGB last year. “We worked through the pandemic. We saw other places like Starbucks had been unionizing … It felt a lot tougher during the pandemic because the stakes were a lot higher for everyone who worked.”

Neighborhood grocer Trader Joe’s, known for its wide range of private-label products, opened its first store in 1967 and now operates more than 500 stores in 42 states and Washington, D.C.