Prosecutors at the National Labor Relations Board say Trader Joe’s illegally interrogated workers and threatened to take away their pay raises when they were trying to form a union last year.
The alleged threats came in the run-up to a January 2023 election at a Louisville, Kentucky, store where workers voted in favor of joining a new union, Trader Joe’s United. The company has challenged the election results by claiming the union illegally influenced the vote.
But according to the complaint filed Monday, prosecutors say it was Trader Joe’s that committed “unfair labor practices” meant to sway workers against unionizing.
The complaint states that an assistant store manager threatened workers with the loss of their raises as well as “a loss of flexibility with taking days off and scheduling work” if they voted for the union. It also alleges the company forced workers to “participate in one-on-one conversations” meant to hurt the union’s support.
“Over the last year, Trader Joe’s has taken every opportunity to throw me under the bus and to make false claims in federal hearings that I violated federal labor law.”
– Connor Hovey, Trader Joe’s employee accused of pressuring co-workers
The labor board will hold a trial on the allegations if officials can’t reach a settlement with Trader Joe’s.
A Trader Joe’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Connor Hovey, a worker whom Trader Joe’s accused of illegally pressuring co-workers to vote for the union, said he was happy to see the complaint issued.
“Over the last year, Trader Joe’s has taken every opportunity to throw me under the bus and to make false claims in federal hearings that I violated federal labor law,” Hovey told HuffPost. “Today it’s vindicating to see that the company was just projecting their behavior onto me, and the government recognized that.”
This isn’t the first time labor board officials have accused Trader Joe’s of breaking the law in an effort to beat back the organizing campaign. They also alleged that Trader Joe’s illegally fired a union supporter at a Massachusetts store and withheld retirement benefits from workers who unionized.
Workers at a store in Hadley, Massachusetts, created Trader Joe’s United in 2022 and became the chain’s first to form a union that year. They were soon followed by workers at stores in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Oakland, California; and Louisville.
The company claimed union supporters at the Louisville store had intimidated other workers and interfered in a “free and fair election,” but a regional director for the labor board rejected all of Trader Joe’s arguments after a hearing. The company has appealed the case to the NLRB’s board in Washington for review.
Seth Goldstein, an attorney for the union, previously told HuffPost that Trader Joe’s was trying to overturn the will of voters ― just like Donald Trump did after he lost his presidential reelection bid in 2020.
“They like democracy until they lose,” Goldstein said. “When they win, they win. When they lose, they still want to think they win.”