Posts tagged Hadley
Commentary: Workers Need More Transparency from Unions
June 5, 2025 // We’re not labor experts or lawyers. We’re too busy doing our day jobs. Unions should be required to disclose a lot more information. Things such as who funds unionization drives, which other unions or groups they’re affiliated with, and whether they’re paying workers to push unionization. This information could have changed the outcome at my old Trader Joe’s store. The best system would equip workers with the facts well before they’re expected to vote. If workers unionize, unions should be required to more regularly provide some of this timely information. Additionally, the Department of Labor should publish the data more often and in a more user-friendly format. For instance, at my old store, we didn’t know that the union officers would be taking salaries from the union — we only found out 18 months later, and we had never agreed to them, which upset many of my co-workers who had supported unionization.
Opinion: Help! We’re Trapped in a Trader Joe’s Union
October 28, 2024 // But the union hasn’t been what many of our co-workers expected. The officers basically selected themselves. They then delayed negotiations with Trader Joe’s while forfeiting our annual bonus retirement contribution. Amid growing discontent in the store, the two of us attended a bargaining session in February 2023, which the union president invited all crew members to join. We were shocked at what we saw. We thought the union would focus on things that matter, like wages and benefits. Instead, union representatives negotiated over things like “pronoun pins,” which the company already provides. They demanded that Trader Joe’s cover abortion and “gender-affirming care.” The company’s response: The health plan already covers that.
Trader Joe’s workers look to decertify union at first unionized store
August 16, 2024 // Workers at a unionized Trader Joe’s location in Hadley, Massachusetts, have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hold a vote to determine whether to remove Trader Joe’s United from its role representing employees at the store, according to a Monday announcement from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which is assisting the workers. The petition includes signatures from “well over” 30% of workers at the store — above the threshold the NLRB requires to trigger a decertification election — the foundation said.
Hadley, MA, Trader Joe’s Employees Seek Vote to Remove SEIU-Backed Union Officials from Store
August 13, 2024 // Employees at the Hadley, MA, location of grocery chain Trader Joe’s have submitted a petition seeking a workplace election to remove the Trader Joe’s United union, an affiliate of the large Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Trader Joe’s employee Les Stratford submitted the petition to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 1 in Boston with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
Trader Joe’s in Chicago files to unionize
April 11, 2024 // The Tribune reports that the Trader Joe’s filed for a union election on Monday, and needs 140 “yes” votes in order to establish the union. The workers there are not affiliated with an established union and instead are organizing independently under the name Trader Joe’s United. One worker at the store told the Tribune that she makes $22.50 an hour and receives 75-cent raises twice a year. Trader Joe’s spokesperson Nakia Rohde told the Tribune that its workers receive annual raises of approximately 7%.
Barnes & Noble workers plan union drive at largest US bookstore chain
April 1, 2024 // In a statement, Daunt disputed claims of delays at the negotiating table. He claimed he was in agreement with workers on “the fundamentals” of their demands – but warned of “potential upsides and downsides” to a union. Barnes & Noble has some 600 stores across the US, and Daunt – who became CEO in 2019 – has worked to turn around the business, which had spent years in decline. It is owned by the investment giant Elliott Management, which also owns Britain’s Waterstones, which is also run by Daunt. “Our purpose for unionizing is to get some recognition for the dignity of workers,” said Sepple. “And having sat at the table and currently in negotiations with Barnes & Noble, it is disappointing that Barnes & Noble has not treated this as if that dignity is deserved.”
Labor Board will hear union complaints against Trader Joe’s on Tuesday
January 16, 2024 // Recently, some workers have started an effort to decertify the union. One of the union opponents, Leslie Stratford, said in an email that almost half of the employees at the Hadley store have signed a petition to disband the union.
Op-ed: Trader Joe’s union is not what we bargained for
June 13, 2023 // First, as reported by the Freedom Foundation, SEIU and Workers United have also targeted my previous employer, Starbucks, with a multimillion-dollar unionization campaign featuring some of the very organizers involved in the Hadley Trader Joe’s campaign. Untold numbers of paid union “salts” — many fresh out of college with little to no work experience — have been deployed to get jobs at targeted employers and covertly organize them from the inside. Second, few resources are available to workers skeptical of or opposed to unionization. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) staff I’ve contacted have shown they only care about workers that want to unionize.
Tied vote stymies union effort at Lower East Side Trader Joe’s
April 24, 2023 // A two-day union vote at a Lower East Side Trader Joe’s ended in a tie, handing a loss to workers who supported the effort, the union announced Friday. The final vote at the Essex Crossing Trader Joe’s was 76-76, legally marking a win for the company, worker-led union Trader Joe’s United said in a news release. Despite the tie, however, worker-organizers at the store said they would continue to fight for a union.
Will more Trader Joe’s workers vote to unionize?
April 20, 2023 //