Trader Joe’s Stores in New York City and California Simultaneously Announce Two New Union Drives

Earlier today, Trader Joe’s locations in New York City and Oakland, California filed for union elections with Trader Joe’s United, the independent labor union of Trader Joe’s workers. Crew members at both stores announced their campaigns with a March on the Boss.

These bicoastal and simultaneous announcements are a historic first for the new union, which formed last year in July 2022 after the Hadley, Massachusetts store became the first Trader Joe’s in the country to unionize. The Hadley win was quickly followed by a landslide victory at the company’s Minneapolis, Minnesota location where the union prevailed 55-5 two weeks later. 

In January 2023, crew at the Louisville, Kentucky store voted 48-36 to join Trader Joe’s United. One week later the company filed objections to the election results with the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB convened a hearing on these objections earlier this week.

If successful, the Oakland and New York City stores will become the fourth and fifth unionized stores in the chain. The location of these two stores is of significance to both the union and the company, as Trader Joe’s United has yet to organize in these two areas. A winning union vote would make the Oakland store the first unionized Trader Joe’s in California where the company was founded. The New York City stores are reputed to be some of the most profitable and popular in the chain.

While Trader Joe’s has a long standing reputation as a progressive company, it has rolled out well-documented anti-union tactics at all locations that have filed for an election. Trader Joe’s has yet to give a formal response to the Oakland and New York City announcements. 

“I love what I do, I love getting to create the energy and vibe that so many customers have come to enjoy when they enter Trader Joes; but it is becoming harder and harder to work while not feeling confident that the people I’m working for will put my safety and well-being above profit. I am looking forward to creating a workplace where my co-workers and I feel like our concerns are being taken seriously,” said Nava Rosenthal, a crew member who has worked at the Oakland, CA store for over 4 years.

“As a full-time graduate student paying for tuition and rent in the notoriously expensive Bay Area, wage transparency is extremely important to me. Within my past few years at TJs, I have experienced conflicting messages from Management about my expected hourly rate upon transferring stores; the upsetting realization I was making a quarter more than a new-hire after working for the company for six years; and a general lack of transparency around wage adjustments. I - and the rest of the crew - deserve the clear communication and respect necessary to financially plan for our lives,” said Kaitlyn Custer. They have worked for Trader Joe’s for 6 years.

“Organizing with other crew members has not only been the most fun I’ve had at my workplace in years, it has also been the most meaningful and connective. This is about respect and integrity, which is supposedly the #1 ‘Core Value’ of Trader Joe’s. There is no respect when Trader Joe’s Corporate denies us a raise and cuts our retirement benefits in the middle of a deadly pandemic. There is no integrity in opaque reviews and unfair disciplinary processes. By unionizing, we can bring Trader Joe’s back in line with its value of integrity,” said Dominique Bernardo, a crew member of 18 years.

“I am organizing because it should not be a radical idea for workers to have a voice in the workplace. Crew members should be able to have more agency at Trader Joe’s and have a role in deciding standards of their own life necessities like pay, safety, and health and retirement benefits. I am organizing so that we feel like the collective the Trader Joe’s once intended to be,” said Jordan Pollack, a crew member at the Essex Crossing store in New York City.