The Trader Joe's Union Vote Is Finally Over

Trader Joe's workers at one location made history this week. Workers at the Hadley, Massachusetts store held the first unionization vote in the company's nearly six decades of existence, and on Thursday they announced the results of that unprecedented labor action.

While some people have shared dismay at how the company has handled this push to form a union at the Hadley store, the vote has now been certified and both sides of the dispute will have to deal with the ramifications. It's unclear exactly how Trader Joe's could respond as it has clearly opposed unionization, including holding a meeting for employees in which management tried to convince workers to vote against unionization earlier this week (per HuffPost).

Although the vote at the Hadley store is now over, that doesn't mean the unionization push across all Trader Joe's stores is in the past. In fact, this week's vote in Hadley could be just the beginning.

On Thursday, July 28th, 2022 unionization proponents at the Trader Joe's in Hadley made the announcement they've been waiting to share. @TraderJoesUnite on Twitter said "WE WON!!!" and shared an image of a statement on the vote. According to Yahoo!, the vote was 45-31 in favor. In its statement, Trader Joe's United said it will start to work on negotiating a contract with management at the store and also stated that it believes "every store across the country" will benefit once that contract is in place.

Trader Joe's United could find out whether that is the case soon. According to Grocery Dive, a second Trader Joe's store in Minneapolis will hold a unionization vote next month. Additionally, The Denver Post reports that workers at a Trader Joe's location in Boulder, Colorado have filed to hold a union election as well.

Trader Joe's United is by no means the only union for grocery store workers in the United States. The UFCW says it represents 835,000 workers across the U.S. and Canada in stores like Albertsons, Kroger, and Safeway, for example. Trader Joe's United is the newest such organization, though, with a birthdate of July 28th, 2022, in Hadley, Massachusetts.