Trader Joe’s workers file to form chain’s first union

Learning that Trader Joe’s reduced retirement benefits for his 50,000-strong U.S. workforce was the last straw for a group of employees at one of the chain’s stores in Hadley, Massachusetts. These workers have now run in union elections which, if successful, would make the store the first of more than 500 locations on the national chain to be organized, joining the workers. at Starbucks, Amazon and other large traders to unionize.

In recent years, Trader Joe’s has contributed about 15% of what employees did the year before to their individual retirement accounts or IRAs. But first he returned the advantage to 10% and then he did it at the discretion of the company, which many workers did not realize until January, said Maeg Yosef, who has worked for the company for 18 years and is helping to lead the unionization effort.

“A lot of people only got half of what they expected,” Yosef, 41, told CBS MoneyWatch. “After losing the retirement contribution, we realized we had the skills and the will to make a serious effort.”

More than 30 percent of Trader Joe’s 88 non-executive employees at Hadley have signed cards to apply for union representation, a requirement of the National Labor Relations Board to hold elections, Yosef said. After organizers informed the company of their intentions to unionize, they received assurances that Trader Joe’s would not answer or delay the process, he added.

Trader Joe’s did not respond to requests for comment. A grocery chain spokeswoman told the New York Times that “we welcome a fair vote and are willing to hold a vote if more than 30 percent of the crew is in flight,” she added. in no case delay the process “. way “.

The NLRB has received the request and will continue the process once it has all the necessary documents, the agency confirmed in an email.

“You have to prepare to lose your job”

All Hadley organizers have been working for 10 to 20 years and are aware of the risks of trying to form a union, Yosef said. “If you decide you want to unionize a $ 16 billion company, you have to prepare to lose your job.”

The store’s management last week told workers to remove the union pins or go home, he said. “For the most part, we just took them out. We’re also very inadequate, so we don’t want to leave our co-workers in the lurch,” Yosef added. “We can leave them enabled now, but it is implied that this would affect performance reviews later.”

Wages and security are other areas where workers are looking for a voice, especially given the repetitive stress and other injuries that often result from work, said Yosef, who said he has had to pay workers’ compensation three. times during his nearly two decades at work. Trader Joe’s.

“Our salary felt really competitive at the beginning of my term; now it’s not up to date with inflation and the cost of living,” said Yosef, whose hourly earnings are limited to $ 25.75.

Yosef expressed confidence that the effort to form an independent union would prevail and eventually spread to other Trader Joe locations.

“We’ve definitely seen what Starbucks has done, it’s been incredibly inspiring, and so has Amazon.”