On May 9, workers at Natural Grocers in Norman, Okla., voted to join UFCW Local 1000.
The 20 workers joined our union because they were concerned about insufficient health care benefits, including the failure to protect the rights of pregnant women and new mothers. They also wanted protection from employment at will and anti-union retaliation, protection of annual wages for all workers, and accessible bereavement leave.
UFCW Local 1000’s organizing campaign included showing the workers how to form an organizing committee and how to reach out to their fellow workers to get their voices heard in the workplace. Informational pickets that included community members were held in front of the store on two separate occasions. Natural Grocers hired two labor relation experts (union busters) and paid them both $450 per hour plus expenses to hold two hour captive audience meetings every day for three weeks. In spite of these tactics, the workers prevailed.
Bridget Burns, one of the Natural Grocers workers in Norman, said she “wants a union because I care deeply for my co-workers, my store, my community, and the future of the company. I believe that a union provides a more accessible feedback representation system for workers and that this would enable the company to better uphold their founding principles.”
Natural Grocers is a national chain with over 160 locations in the U.S.