Trader Joe's filed an objection on Wednesday to the recent union election in Louisville, Kentucky, the grocer's third location to vote to unionize, reports Winsight Grocery Business.
In documents filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the company affirmed that the voting conditions prevented a fair voting process.
“This unlawful conduct created an atmosphere of fear and coercion and interfered with the laboratory conditions necessary to conduct a free and fair election and/or created a general atmosphere of fear and reprisal that rendered a free election impossible,” Trader Joe's said.
The union shared its disappointment in the objection on 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,” Connor Hovey, union organizer and Louisville Trader Joe's employee, said in a statement. “We also think it's interesting that a company with such a progressive image is going to such great lengths to delay the results of a fair, democratic process.”
Earlier that day, the union said that it wrapped up two days of negotiations in Hadley, Massachusetts, where it presented economic proposals requesting a $30 per hour starting wage, health care benefits without premiums, and more.
"Our employer dismissed these proposals out of hand," the union said on Twitter. "They acknowledged that the company could afford these changes—they just weren't interested in making them.”
A hearing date with the NLRB has not yet been set for Trader Joe's objection. Until it is finalized, the Louisville union will be put on hold. Full Story
Related: Third Trader Joe's Unionizes; Pick-Up Only Grocer Debuts