Associates at a Trader Joe’s store in Minneapolis plan to vote next month on whether to unionize, according to a Thursday tweet by Trader Joe’s United, the labor group formed to organize employees at the grocery chain.
The vote is to occur on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, shortly after Trader Joe’s associates at a store in Hadley, Massachusetts, cast ballots to determine whether they will become the first of the chain’s workers to gain union representation. Trader Joe’s United announced that potentially groundbreaking election, which is set for July 27 and July 28, earlier this month.
It's official! Trader Joe's Minneapolis has an election date!
— Trader Joe's United (@TraderJoesUnite) July 21, 2022
The election will be held on August 11 & 12, and we can't wait to see the final vote count!
The Minneapolis location is the second to file for a union election, after the Hadley, MA store, which is voting next week.
Workers at the two Trader Joe’s stores are moving ahead with formal polls on whether to unionize after Trader Joe’s United publicly aired a list of grievances against the chain. In a series of tweets on June 6, the group said Trader Joe’s has reduced retirement benefits, provided inadequate pay, turned a blind eye to workers’ requests for safety improvements and mishandled interactions between managers and crew members.
“Too often, performance reviews and disciplinary actions are mysterious or inconsistent. What are the consequences for not meeting expectations on our reviews, or multiple reviews? When are we up for termination? Nobody really knows!” Trader Joe’s United said in one of the tweets.
Trader Joe’s, which runs stores in 42 states and Washington, D.C., is facing the possibility that some of its associates will decide to unionize at a time when efforts by retail workers to gain formal representation are gaining steam.
Workers at more than 100 Starbucks locations have agreed to unionize since the first successful union drive at a store in Buffalo, New York in December. Meanwhile, workers at an Amazon facility in the New York borough of Staten Island voted earlier this year to become the first of the e-commerce giant’s employees to unionize, but the company has asked the National Labor Relations Board to overturn the results of that election.
