Trader Joe's Union Square Wine Shop Closes After Workers Decide to Unionize

Workers at the Trader Joe’s Wine Shop in Union Square spent the last four months laying the groundwork to unionize their store. A small organizing committee met regularly to discuss strategy around building support to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union, and they planned to go public with their effort the week of Aug. 15. But in the early morning hours of Aug. 11, Trader Joe’s abruptly informed them it was closing the popular wine shop, its only one in New York City, reports Dave Jamieson in the Huffington Post this week.

“It’s totally to stop the union effort before it can begin,” said Jonathan Reuning, 63, a worker active in the union effort who has been with Trader Joe’s for five years. “My regulars are pissed. It makes us look really bad. It makes [the company] look bad to put their employees out of work like that with no notice.”

The UFCW told HuffPost it was “ready to pursue all legal action,” including filing unfair labor practice charges against the company for its “shameless union busting.”

“If the company retaliates further against workers involved in organizing efforts, UFCW will aggressively pursue all legal recourse available, and if Trader Joe’s fails to meet their commitments to these workers, UFCW will make every effort to assist workers in getting jobs in union stores,” the union said in a statement. Read more in HuffPo!