LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Trader Joe’s is challenging last month’s vote by workers at its Louisville store to form a union, alleging that pro-union workers “created an atmosphere of fear and coercion and interfered with the laboratory conditions necessary to conduct a free and fair election.”
The privately owned grocery store chain filed its objections Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board, according to a copy of the filing shared by the Trader Joe’s United, the union seeking to organize the Louisville store.
Trader Joe’s’ Louisville workers voted 48-36 in favor of the union during the Jan. 26 election, according to Trader Joe’s United. If the tally holds up, it will become the third Trader Joe’s in the nation to unionize.
The NLRB will have to adjudicate Trader Joe’s’ challenge before certifying the result. Only after the election is official would Trader Joe’s have the obligation under federal law to bargain in good faith with the union.
"Filing the objections will delay recognition and bargaining because even without a hearing it will take around 35 days for the (NLRB) to issue a report addressing objections, longer if a hearing is needed," said Ariana Levinson, a labor law professor at the University of Louisville, in an email.
Among other unfair tactics, Trader Joe’s alleges that the union and its supporters harassed and intimidated workers on election day and the day before.
For example, the chain accuses pro-union workers and an attorney of “berating and denigrating Crew Members who disagreed with the Union” by “instructing eligible voters who did not support the Union’s organizing efforts to transfer out of the Store” and “making unwelcome, intrusive, harassing, and intimidating comments to eligible voters,” according to the filing.
The union rejected Trader Joe’s’ assertions in a statement Thursday.
“It’s interesting that the company is claiming that we tainted the ‘laboratory’ conditions of the election when we have several unfair labor practice charges on file against Trader Joe’s for coercion, intimidation, threats, and surveillance in the weeks leading up to our election,” said Connor Hovey, a Louisville store employee and union organizer, in the statement. “We also think it’s interesting that a company with such a progressive image is going to such lengths to delay the results of a fair, democratic process.”
An attorney for Trader Joe’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
