Trader Joe’s workers vote yes to first unionized store

Trader Joe’s is getting its first union location after workers at a store in Hadley, Mass., voted to unionize, joining a wave of retail labor organizing that has swept the likes of Amazon, Apple and Starbucks .

Workers voted 45 to 31 to join Trader Joe’s United, an independent union not affiliated with a larger labor group. “We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done together to win this union election, but winning is just the beginning,” the union said on Twitter.

A second union election for Trader Joe’s in Minneapolis is scheduled for Aug. 11-12, while United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 filed a union election petition Tuesday for a store in Boulder, Colo.

In a statement, a Trader Joe’s spokesman called the company’s salary and benefits package “among the best in the grocery business” and said the company was “prepared to immediately begin discussions with union representatives because the employees of this store negotiate a contract.” “

“We are willing to use any current union contract of a multistate grocery company with stores in the area, selected by union representatives, as a template for negotiating a new structure for employees at that store; including pay, retirement, health, etc. care and working conditions such as scheduling and work flexibility,” Trader Joe’s said in a statement.

The company has seven days to file a claim, but the spokesman did not say whether it would do so.

Trader Joe’s workers who led the labor push said they were inspired by Starbucks, where more than 200 stores have voted to unionize despite staunch opposition from the company.

Workers at various Apple and Amazon locations have also launched organizing campaigns. So far this year, more petitions for union elections have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board than all of last year, the NLRB said.

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