Park Slope Food Coop Needs To Stay Out Of Union Effort: Workers

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Workers trying to form a union at the Park Slope Food Coop are asking their managers, who they allege have threatened those organizing, for a formal promise that they will not interfere with the effort.

A dozen of the coop's 78 employees signed on to a petition late last week that asks the six general coordinators who oversee them to sign on to a neutrality agreement, which would promise that they would not interfere or involve themselves with the employee's decision making process on unionizing.

The group of full-time employees have been considering forming a union for months and filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board back in April. The complaint, which Patch obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, outlines nearly a dozen instances where staff at the coop felt they were retaliated against for showing support for the union.

"Neutrality agreements are one tool to help create a peaceful environment free from discrimination, retaliation, or bullying, for workers to deliberate and build unity together," the employees petition states. "The PSFC has the opportunity to be exemplary by ensuring that staff can have a supportive and equitable structure, created for and by them, as they work to help our Coop run every day."

Managers at the coop have told Patch and have posted on their coop's newsletter and website that they support the worker's decisions to form a union.

General Manager Joe Holtz said that the coop, which has hired a lawyer, believes the claims in the complaint will be proven to be unsupported, according to a column he wrote in the most recent newsletter. The management have not interfered with their efforts, Holtz said.

The group of employees leading the union charge have also created a new website that further outlines their reasons for wanting to organize.

Here, the workers claim that there are long-standing issues in the work place that include "overwork, inability to resolve grievances, racism and other forms of inequity, intimidation, disrespect, inconsistent scheduling, violations of confidentiality, workplace safety, and difficulty establishing and maintaining a collective voice."

They note that these problems are not unique to the food coop, but say that a union can help contribute to the "transformations needed on a societal level" to address some of the problems.

The employees are hoping to join under The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In order to officially form the union, the workers will need to hold a vote and gain the support of more than 50 percent of the staff.

And, although those unionizing have the support of more than 600 people on their petition, this might be unlikely given other employees who have spoken out against organizing.

Many of the full-time employees wrote a letter in the May 23 newsletter to say that the majority of staff have "serious reservations" about the idea to unionize.

The letter, signed by 43 of the 76 full-time staff, contends that the general coordinators have remained neutral about the union efforts. Most employees, they said, believe issues should be solved within the coop and that some of them have done so without a union.