Union Vote at Trader Joe’s Essex Crossing Store in New York City Ends in a Tie, a Loss for the Union

After two days of voting, the union election at the Essex Crossing Trader Joe’s in New York City ended in a tie vote, 76-76, which is legally a win for the employer. Workers voted on whether to join Trader Joe’s United, the independent union of Trader Joe’s workers founded last year.

Worker-organizers at Essex Crossing released the following statement on social media last night:

“Tonight at Essex Crossing, we lost our union vote in a tie, 76-76.

The fight to unionize a NYC Trader Joe’s continues. From the Upper West Side store almost ten years ago, to the Union Square wine shop that corporate closed just days before workers filed for an election, to the Williamsburg store and now Essex Crossing–Trader Joe’s workers have been trying to unionize here for a long time. The company’s massive NYC stores are a challenge and corporate union-busting is a beast, but we will not stop fighting for each other and for the working conditions we deserve.

We had endless conversations with our coworkers. We sent countless texts and phone calls, and gathered together to celebrate and connect about the future we wanted to see at work. We prepared ourselves mentally, emotionally, and intellectually for the union-busting tactics we knew corporate would try. We made vote plans and gave our fellow crew rides to the polls. We had early mornings and sleepless nights. We did it all while working this job, second jobs, tending to our families, and going to school.

We won't say that the vote count and results don’t matter. They do. But the reality is, the barriers to working people winning against corporations in this country are huge. The odds are stacked against us - and those on top will throw a lot of money and time to keep it that way. But every single time a worker - and in this case nearly 200 of us - stand up and courageously and proudly fight back against this reality, the working class makes huge strides. 

We are proud to have made it as close as anyone ever has in NYC. This is not the end for Essex, and it’s for sure not the end for New York City.

Solidarity,

The Essex Crossing Organizing Committee”

Across the country, workers at the Rockridge Trader Joe’s in Oakland, CA also voted on whether to join TJU, solidly winning their union last night in a 73-53 vote.

Trader Joe’s United is a new organization unaffiliated with an established labor union. In July 2022 workers at the Hadley, MA location won their union election 45-31, becoming the company’s first unionized store. The Minneapolis store joined the TJU in a landslide 55-5 victory just two weeks later. In January of 2023, the Louisville, KY store became the third Trader Joe’s location in the country to vote to join TJU, though the company filed objections to the election results with the NLRB. A final ruling on those objections is pending.