Employees at a Trader Joe’s store in Louisville, Kentucky, voted yesterday to join Trader Joe’s United, the fledgling union that has been campaigning to organize workers at stores operated by the specialty grocery chain. The store, located at 4600 Shelbyville Road, is the third Trader Joe’s location to become part of the union.
Forty-eight workers at the Louisville store voted in favor of unionizing, while 36 opposed the effort, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which oversaw the election. Another 7 ballots were challenged, but won’t be counted since there aren’t enough to affect the outcome, the NLRB said.
About 106 employees were eligible to cast ballots, and the NLRB will certify the results unless either side lodges an objection within five business days. Ahead of the vote, the union filed four unfair labor practice charges against Trader Joe’s, all of which are still pending, according to the NLRB.
“We are very excited to bring our concerns to the bargaining table, with the hopes that Trader Joe’s will have the best intentions while we bargain for our first contract,” Connor Hovey, an employee at the store who helped organize the unionization drive, announced in December, said in an emailed statement.
Workers at the Louisville store follow associates at Trader Joe’s locations in Hadley, Massachusetts, and Minneapolis in opting to be represented by Trader Joe’s United. Trader Joe’s employees in New York, however, voted not to unionize, and workers at a Trader Joe’s store in Boulder, Colorado, withdrew a petition filed with the NLRB for a vote on whether to unionize.
