Workers at Trader Joe’s in Williamsburg, Brooklyn File to Unionize with Trader Joe’s United

Workers at the Trader Joe’s in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (store #548) informed management of their intent to form a union yesterday. They are petitioning to unionize with Trader Joe’s United, the same independent and worker-driven organization that recently won elections in both Massachusetts and Minnesota.

If successful in their drive, the Williamsburg store will be the third unionized Trader Joe’s location. Workers in Hadley, MA won their election on July 28th of this year, and employees in Minneapolis voted to join TJU just weeks later, in a 55-5 vote. The crew in Williamsburg have filed for an election with the NLRB and are awaiting a date.

Last week, in a written statement, management at the Williamsburg store told employees that they were aware of efforts to unionize. One day later, management fired Jaz W., a Black union organizer and crew member.

“Jaz’s firing was surprising but not shocking to us, because we know of our store’s pattern of applying discipline in ways that reflect our society’s racial bias,” said Amy Wilson, a crew member and organizer in Williamsburg. “Jaz is an amazing workplace advocate and is known to our crew and customers as a warm, caring person. This termination, coming as it does in a pattern of what we feel are unfair terminations of our Black coworkers and so close to the filing of our union petition, is demonstrating to our crew why we need the legal protections of union workers to even the playing field at work.”

Yesterday workers formally announced their union drive and passed out flyers to customers outside the store, informing them of the unionization efforts and asking for their support in reinstating Jaz.

“We’re organizing for our rights and dignity at work,” the flyer read, “by forming a union to fight for an NYC living wage, better access to healthcare and paid time off, clear and fairly applied disciplinary processes, and much more…We’re asking you to stand with our crew as we work together for the protections and fair working conditions we deserve. Let our managers know you support our union and ask them to reinstate Jaz.”