Trader Joe’s is facing a complaint from federal labor officials that claims the grocer closed a New York City wine shop because workers at the store had discussions about a potential effort to unionize.
The complaint, issued Jan. 12 by the National Labor Relations Board and based on an unfair labor practice charge filed in November 2022 by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, also alleges that the grocery chain subjected employees to interrogation, threatened to cut their benefits and told them deciding to join a union would be “futile,” according to an emailed statement from the agency.
The NLRB said its general counsel is seeking remedies including compelling Trader Joe’s to reopen the store, which was located in New York City’s Union Square neighborhood and closed in 2022, and “make-whole relief” for its workers.
The NLRB intends to encourage the union and Trader Joe’s to reach a settlement and has scheduled a hearing before an administrative law judge starting on May 7. Either party could appeal the judge’s decision to the board and ultimately to a federal appeals court.
The UFCW hailed the NLRB’s decision to file the complaint as a victory for Trader Joe’s workers in their effort to gain leverage against Trader Joe’s.
“Trader Joe’s shamelessly and illegally engaged in union busting to scare Trader Joe’s workers across the region and stop these workers from having a voice on the job. We applaud the NLRB’s decision to move forward with the ULP charge filed by crew members and look forward to holding Trader Joe’s accountable for their egregious anti-worker behavior,” the UFCW said in a statement issued last Thursday.
The NLRB’s complaint is the latest twist in Trader Joe’s contentious relationship with workers at several of its stores who have sought to unionize as part of Trader Joe’s United, a union set up to represent the company’s employees.
Workers at Trader Joe’s locations in Hadley, Massachusetts; Minneapolis; and Oakland, California, voted to join the union, while employees at Trader Joe’s stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn opted not to unionize.
Employees at a Trader Joe’s store in Louisville, Kentucky, voted to unionize in January 2023, but the grocer has asked the NLRB to invalidate the election because it claimed workers and an attorney representing them attempted to interfere in the vote.
In a setback for Trader Joe’s, a federal court in Los Angeles last week threw out a lawsuit the retailer had filed against Trader Joe’s United that claimed the union improperly used the company’s logo, Reuters reported.
