Philadelphia workers at Whole Foods voted for a union. This Trump firing brings a new challenge.
The company has challenged the election and is appealing to the NLRB. The process could take months since the board does not have a quorum to issue rulings.
Months after Whole Foods workers voted to unionize at one of the company’s Philadelphia locations, those efforts could be at a standstill indefinitely.
The Amazon-owned company has challenged the January union election‘s validity and is taking its next appeal to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which does not currently have enough members to issue rulings.
“Whole Foods is trying to drag their feet and act like the union does not exist,” said Ben Lovett of the store’s prepared foods department. “They want to throw out the results of our election, where we got a clear majority of support, and they are just doing everything they can to not negotiate with their workers.”
Three of the NLRB’s five positions are currently vacant after President Donald Trump fired one member earlier this year, so the board lacks a quorum.
On Thursday, Whole Foods workers and elected officials gathered outside the store at 2101 Pennsylvania Ave. to raise awareness about the dispute. A large Scabby the rat inflatable was also in attendance.
“At the beginning of this campaign, Whole Foods said, Amazon said, that they would respect what the workers did here,” said Wendell Young president of UFCW Local 1776, the union that Whole Foods workers voted to join. “After all, forming a union is a simple act of workplace democracy, and they’re now trying to prevent these people from exercising their rights.”
“In the labor movement, we consider people like that rats,” Young added.
The company raised multiple objections to the union election earlier this year, but those were dismissed by the NLRB’s regional director last week. Now, Whole Foods says it’s ready to appeal that decision.
“We strongly disagree with the conclusion and we will appeal,” Whole Foods Market said Tuesday. “As we demonstrated throughout the hearing, including with first-hand testimony from various witnesses, the UFCW 1776 illegally interfered with our team members’ right to a fair vote at our Philly Center City Store.”
Whole Foods’ has alleged that the union promised that employees would get a 30% raise if they voted in favor of the union and offered transportation to and from the store on voting day, among other objections.
But now that the company is appealing to the NLRB, it’s unclear if and when Whole Foods will recognize the union and begin negotiating a contract with workers.
The lack of NLRB quorum “really is gonna make it hard, particularly for unions that are trying to represent workers, such as in this case, because it could take, not only months, potentially years before the board would be there to even hear a case,” James Cooney, associate teaching professor at Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, said of the situation at the board.
“That is not gonna be to the benefit of unions,” Cooney added. ”Usually employers benefit by delaying the process.”
Representatives of other unions joined the rally Thursday morning, including Teamsters, the News Guild, and AFSCME District Council 33. The crowd, which started with about 50 people, including elected officials, grew throughout the rally while vehicles driving by honked in support.
“What we’re seeing in D.C., what we’re seeing from the [Trump] administration, and its good buddies like Jeff Bezos, is that they want all the power for the corporations, all the power and all the money for the billionaires, and unions are the best way to fight back,” U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Pa.) said.
State Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D., Philadelphia) asked the crowd: “How does it feel to be the first union certified in the United States for Whole Foods?” eliciting an eruption of cheers.
“We need to have them come to the table,” she said, referring to Whole Foods negotiating with the union. The protesters echoed in a chant: “Come to the table! Come to the table!”