Target Faces Labor Organizing Effort at New Jersey Warehouse
February 19 2020 - 3:59PM
Dow Jones News
By Jennifer Smith
A labor clash is brewing at a Target Corp. warehouse in New
Jersey where the retailer is testing a new approach to
distribution.
A union representing warehouse workers in the state is trying to
organize employees at a Perth Amboy distribution center. The labor
group says that Target is treating its staff poorly and that the
retailer has launched an anti-union campaign to block the effort.
Target says it has created "a safe working environment of mutual
trust" as the company faces potential new complications at a site
that is part of a multibillion-dollar effort to retool its
operations to meet changing e-commerce sales demands.
Target has been using the 718,000-square-foot "flow center" to
test a strategy aimed at using smaller, more frequent shipments to
restock nearby stores and at better integrating its distribution
and online fulfillment.
The warehouse, within a short drive of both the enormous New
York City-area consumer market and the big container terminals of
the Port of New York and New Jersey, is one of many that retailers
and logistics companies are adding as they shift warehouse space
closer to urban areas around the country to speed up final delivery
of goods to online customers.
The push closer to cities is bringing new challenges for
logistics operations that typically have been placed in relatively
remote locations.
The land near cities is more expensive, residents in various
communities have pushed back against the increasing truck traffic
in more congested areas, and the sites near traditional union
strongholds have drawn attention from organized labor.
Warehouses tend to have a high rate of employee turnover and
often rely on temporary workers who can be challenging to organize.
But in recent years unions including the Teamsters have been
calling attention to what they say are difficult conditions for
workers at e-commerce and industrial distribution sites.
Disagreements with New York politicians and labor groups over
Amazon.com Inc.'s stance on organized labor contributed to the
online giant's decision last year to drop plans for a second
corporate headquarters in New York City. A national union's efforts
to organize workers at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island haven't
yet resulted in a collective bargaining agreement.
New Jersey has seen a boom in warehouse development as Amazon
and others open sprawling fulfillment sites, often with the
encouragement of local officials and economic development agencies.
Online luxury consignment marketplace the RealReal Inc. opened a
warehouse in Perth Amboy last year, its second in the state, and
Home Depot Inc. is planning a facility in the city.
Efforts to organize 450 to 500 workers at the Target site in
Perth Amboy began last year and drew pushback from company
management, which held meetings with employees "to urge them not to
speak with us and to create a climate of fear around organizing,"
said Megan Chambers, co-manager of the Laundry, Distribution and
Food Service Joint Board, Workers United, an affiliate of the
Service Employees International Union.
Some workers in Perth Amboy have complained of difficult working
conditions, the union said, including heavy production quotas, long
shifts and unfair scheduling practices, such as the requirement
that they keep some days open in case they get called in to
work.
A Target spokeswoman said the company has "a long history of
investing in our team and creating a safe work environment of
mutual trust where our team members don't want or need union
representation. We're aware that this group has been contacting
Target team members in Perth Amboy, and we've consistently heard
from our team that they're not interested in being represented by
this union."
Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz and the labor group said Target is
violating the spirit of a 2017 tax-abatement agreement between the
city and the developer of the industrial park where the
distribution center is located. That agreement encouraged the
developer to seek out tenants that "strive to create harmony in the
labor force."
The city welcomes investments from big companies attracted to
the city's location, Ms. Diaz said. "But at the same time, give our
residents and the people working at those facilities the
opportunity to be represented, " she said. "It's a lot of hard
work...in that type of environment. If they have complaints, who
can they really go to?"
Write to Jennifer Smith at jennifer.smith@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 19, 2020 16:44 ET (21:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Target (NYSE:TGT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Target (NYSE:TGT)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024