HADLEY, Mass. — More workers across the country are joining to movement to unionize.
Employees at a Trader Joe’s store in Massachusetts have filed for a union election.
If they win, the Hadley store location will be the first unionized Trader Joe’s in the country.
The filing calls for an election involving more than 80 employees who work form Trader Joe’s United.
The union would be independent and would not be affiliated with an established labor organization.
Workers say they were inspired by two things to form a union – Starbucks’ unionization, but also concerns about safety and changes in their benefits.
Maeg Yosef, a union organizer, says retirement benefits have decreased dramatically over the past 18 years, when she first started working at the store.
Store employees first pushed for a union around the early stages of the pandemic.
A spokesperson for Trader Joe’s told the New York Times the company is “not interested in delaying the process in any way,” referring to the vote.
Recently, workers at Starbucks, Amazon and REI have had success in unionizing, despite pushback from their companies.
