As an organic grocery chain grows in the Northeast, its employees are seeking to unionize.
Healthy Living’s newest location in Clifton Park opened earlier this month, marking the chain grocer’s fourth store.
It also operates in Saratoga Springs and northwest Vermont.
In May, workers at those three locations voted in favor of unionization, 105-69. That result was certified by the National Labor Relations Board in July.
“Workers are fighting for very essential things like a living wage, fair staffing that actually allows them to do their jobs, affordable benefits, and, most importantly, they just want a say in the company that a lot of them really, really care about and love working at. They want to have a voice in the future of that company and they’ve decided to do that through organizing a union,” said Casey Moore.
Casey Moore is the organizing director for Workers United Upstate New York and Vermont.
“Unfortunately, Healthy Living owners have decided to fight their own workers instead of respecting the right of their workers to organize a union. So, they’ve hired union busting consultants, they’ve intimidated and surveilled workers, they’ve now fired union leaders as well and they refuse to accept the results of the Democratic election that happened back in May. And they’re continuing to file all sorts of different legal maneuvers to try and delay the process instead of just coming to the table and bargaining in good faith,” said Moore.
Healthy Living ownership filed objections to the union vote in May. Region 3 of the NLRB in July upheld the validity of the vote, dismissing Healthy Living's objections. But Healthy Living's ownership has appealed that decision.
In a statement, the company said, “From the beginning, Healthy Living has had significant concerns about how this election was conducted, and whether every Healthy Living team member had a full and fair opportunity to make their voice heard. To make sure they are heard, we have challenged the Region's certification, and that legal process is still underway.”
The company added, “Our quiet reflects respect for that process and for every member of our team; it is not a lack of care. Until the process is resolved, it would be inappropriate for us to engage in bargaining.”
“We are just waiting for the national board now to review that appeal,” said Moore.
Moore rejects Healthy Livings claims.
“I’ve worked on a number of union campaigns across the region, I was a Starbucks barista myself, and not even Starbucks, one of the most anti-union companies in the country, has ever tried to throw out the results of a democratic election. In fact, in Healthy Living’s—if you look at the documents they filed they use a lot of politically charged phrases like ‘voter fraud’ and ‘Workers United plot to overthrow capitalism,’” said Moore.
Healthy Living’s appeal of the union vote outlines alleged salt infiltration, a process in which individuals apply for jobs at non-union employers with the intent to unionize once hired.
The appeal also details an apparent “mass resignation” that occurred among employees who had only been working at Healthy Living for a few months. The company alleges dozens of employees resigned shortly after the union vote and that they were “part of a larger pattern.”
Still, Moore says, it’s not too late for Healthy Living to come to the bargaining table.
“Healthy Living owners could decide at a point in time to come to the table to bargain a contract and we could have a great relationship and a really collaborative one. So, it’s our hope, we believe that their appeal will get dismissed and we’re hoping that once it does they’ll finally decide to come to the table and everybody can move on,” said Moore.
