Target Workers at Brooklyn Store Vote to Join Union--Update
September 16 2015 - 7:06PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Nassauer and Paul Ziobro
A group of employees at a Target Corp. store in New York City
have voted to unionize, the first time in the retailer's history
that its workers have decided to join a labor union.
A group of less than a dozen pharmacy employees in Brooklyn,
N.Y., passed the measure on Sept. 8 after the National Labor
Relations Board approved a request to conduct a vote.
Target had argued against the vote, saying it shouldn't have
been allowed given the pending sale of the company's pharmacy
business to CVS Health for $1.9 billion. Target plans to appeal the
NLRB's decision to allow the vote, said spokeswoman Molly
Snyder.
"Although we are disappointed by the results of the election,
and believe that our team members do not need paid third-party
representation, Target respects the rights of its team members to
make this choice," Ms. Snyder said.
The union would be the first such group among Target's nearly
350,000 employees. There have only been two votes to unionize at
Target stores since 1990, according to Ms. Snyder: at Valley
Stream, N.Y., in 2011, and in the Detroit area in 1990. Both were
rejected.
The Brooklyn employees decided to pursue a union vote after CVS
agreed to buy Target's pharmacy business, according to a pharmacy
employee at the location who asked not to be named. Staffers were
worried about potential layoffs, reductions in their hourly wages
or other labor changes after the CVS deal, the employee said.
"We were all happy with our jobs at Target. That wasn't the
problem. It's more that we didn't like being thrown into
uncertainty," said the employee. Seven Target pharmacy employees
met with local United Food and Commercial Workers International
Union representatives at restaurants to learn how to unionize, said
the employee.
After filling the petition with the NLRB on Aug. 11 "our daily
routine got turned upside down," as Target executives from
corporate headquarters streamed to Brooklyn, said this person.
Several Target and CVS executives came to Target in Brooklyn over
several weeks to convince the pharmacy employees they didn't need a
union to be heard, said this person.
"Leading up to the election, Target dispatched a variety of
employees to visit the store and meet with employees," said Ms.
Snyder, the Target spokeswoman. "We wanted to be sure our team
members were able to continue to have open and honest communication
as a team and with a variety of leaders," she said.
"The approximately 14,000 in-store Target health care
professionals will be offered comparable positions with CVS Health
as part of the transition, subject to customary pre-employment
checks," said a CVS spokeswoman.
The group of pharmacy employees approached the UFCW to ask for
help creating a union, says Louis Sollicito, organizing director
for UFCW 342.
The NLRB approved the vote because CVS's purchase of Target's
pharmacies is still subject to federal approval, therefore Target
has official ownership of the unit, said James Paulsen, regional
director at the NLRB who heard the case. Small groups of employees
at a store are able to unionizes as long as the group mostly stands
alone within the store, said Mr. Paulsen.
In this case Target never argued the group wasn't large enough
to unionize, he said. Target can appeal the decision with the NLRB,
he said.
In 2014 a group of 41 cosmetics and fragrances workers at a
Macy's Inc. store in Massachusetts won approval from the NLRB to
unionize, at the time raising concerns among retail and business
groups that more small groups of employees within stores would
attempt to unionize.
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com and Paul
Ziobro at Paul.Ziobro@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 16, 2015 19:51 ET (23:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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