Target Workers at Brooklyn Store Vote to Join Union
September 16 2015 - 7:44PM
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., voted this past week after the National Labor Relations Board
approved a request to conduct a vote, according to the NLRB
website.
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
representatives at a restaurant 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.
CVS spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
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 19:29 ET (23:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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