Trader Joe's workers file for union election

After successful votes to unionize at Starbucks, REI and Amazon, employees at Trader Joe's in western Massachusetts have filed for a union election. If the employees win this election, it would create the first union at Trader Joe's, which has more than 500 locations and 50,000 employees nationwide. The filing was made with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday. It seeks an election involving about 85 employees who would form an independent union, Trader Joe's United. This also echoes the independent union created by Amazon workers on Staten Island and the worker-led organizing at Starbucks.

Maeg Yosef, an 18-year-old employee at the store who is also a leader of the union campaign says, "Over the past however many years, changes have been happening without our consent. We wanted to be in charge of the whole process, to be our own union. So we decided to go independent." He added that the union had support from over 50% of workers at the store. 

Nakia Rohde a company spokesperson said, "We have always said we welcome a fair vote and are prepared to hold a vote if more than 30 percent of the crew wants one. We are not interested in delaying the process in any way." The company also shared a similar response to the employees after they disclosed their intention to unionize in May.

Source: The New York Times