Workers at a Trader Joe’s in Williamsburg have filed for union representation, according to records from the National Labor Relations Board.
The workers are aiming to join Trader Joe's United, a newly formed independent union that won elections at Trader Joe’s stores in Massachusetts and Minnesota over the summer.
The NLRB is expected to set a date for an election in the coming days.
The Williamsburg store is the first Trader Joe’s in New York City to formally request a union election, of more than a dozen locations across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. It employs 185 people.
“We’re organizing for our rights and dignity at work,” read a flier handed to shoppers last week, according to a union representative. It said the goal of forming a union was “to fight for an NYC living wage, better access to healthcare and paid time off, clear and fairly applied disciplinary processes, and much more.”
The union petition comes amid an ongoing surge in new elections, both in New York City and nationwide, and at well-known chains such as Starbucks and Amazon.
However, the overall share of the U.S. workforce represented by unions remains at historic lows. More Perfect Union, a news outlet covering unions, first reported on Trader Joe’s workers' requests for union representation in Williamsburg.
“Union fever is spreading to other retailers,” said Ruth Milkman, a sociologist of labor and labor studies at CUNY.
She noted that Trader Joe’s, like Starbucks, typically employs “many young, college-educated workers who are facing a gap between their labor market expectations and the jobs available to them.”
Rumblings of union activity at Trader Joe’s go back several years. Workers began to speak out about safety concerns and retaliation during the first COVID-19 wave in 2020. Last month, the company abruptly shut down the popular 14th Street wine store ahead of an expected union drive.
A spokesperson for Trader Joe's didn’t return a request for comment immediately.
“Trader Joe’s management is resisting the union push,” explained Milkman “so getting to a collective bargaining agreement could be challenging.”
Even after a successful union vote, workers often face an uphill battle. Amazon is still challenging the ‘Yes’ vote of workers at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, refusing to bargain with the newly formed Amazon Labor Union, while the appeal is pending, attorney Seth Goldstein confirmed.
