Trader Joe's and other US firms suppress unionization efforts during pandemic

As workers become increasingly concerned about workplace safety, employers have been suppressing organizing efforts

4-23-2020

US corporations are cracking down on unionization efforts as workers try to organize under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.

Companies, including grocery chains Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, airport concession operators, local authorities and even a furniture company owned by the billionaire Warren Buffett have moved to control efforts to unionize as workers become increasingly concerned about workplace safety during the emergency.

The Trader Joe’s chairman and CEO, Dan Bane, sent a letter to all employees on 31 March opposing labor unions, and calling attempts to recruit staff “a distraction”, the latest in a series of memos and actions taken by the company to suppress union organizing efforts calling for hazard pay and adequate protections for grocery store workers during the pandemic.


“It’s a blatant anti-union letter,” said a Trader Joe’s employee in New Jersey who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “It’s in bad taste and shows the greed this company has instead of taking proactive measures to keep the crew and customers safe.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/labor-unions-trader-joes-workers-coronavirus-us?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1587648213








grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr