Trader Joe’s Files Objection to Louisville Election Results

Less than one week after employees celebrated a solid union victory at the company’s Louisville, KY location, Trader Joe’s has filed an objection to the result of last week’s election. On January 26th, store employees voted 48-36 to join Trader Joe’s United, the independent union of Trader Joe’s workers formed last year.

This recent win made the Louisville store the third Trader Joe’s location to unionize. Stores in Hadley, MA and Minneapolis voted to join Trader Joe’s United in July and August of 2022, respectively.

In a document submitted to the NLRB on February 1, 2023, Trader Joe’s claims that union supporters created “an atmosphere of fear and coercion and interfered with the laboratory conditions necessary to conduct a free and fair election.” (See attached).

“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, an employee and organizer at the Louisville location. “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.”