Park Slope Food Coop Violated Federal Labor Laws, Board Finds

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Park Slope Food Coop workers hoping to unionize were outraged this week when their managers reached a settlement with the federal labor board but still refused to sign a document promising to stay neutral while they organize.

The coop was required to post signs around the Union Street building this week outlining workers' rights to unionize after the National Labor Relations Board decided a complaint that they were threatening union-backing staff had standing, union officials told Patch.

The settlement with the NLRB comes after the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is helping coop employees, asked the coop to sign a neutrality agreement in the spring.

The coop refused then to sign the agreement and still have not done so, angering members who showed up to see the signs posted around coop. Those members, who support the full-time employees union efforts, gathered outside the coop Friday to get signatures on a petition they started back in June to ask the coop to sign the agreement.

"The neutrality agreement was not signed at the time and (workers) are still waiting for that to be signed," Chelsea Connor, a representative with RWDSU told Patch. "Instead, what happened is, coop management took retaliatory measures against workers. This neutrality agreement is needed more than ever."

The notices required in the NLRB settlement list workers rights to "form, join or assist a union" and include several statements about how the coop will not "interfere, restrain or coerce" members in exercising those rights.

Connor said that these statements are essentially the minimum the coop is required to follow by law. A neutrality agreement, on the other hand, goes above just the legal requirements and promises neutrality while also outlining a process for how a union vote can take place.

The fact that the NLRB found that the coop already violated the labor laws posted in the signs makes the agreement even more necessary, she said.

"This is a perfect case of why neutrality is needed and something that goes beyond the law," Connor said.

The NLRB complaint, which Patch obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, outlined nearly a dozen instances where staff at the coop felt they were retaliated against for showing support for the union.

The coop managers said before the NLRB settlement that they believed these claims would be disproved and contended that they have supported members rights to join a union. They did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.

Members petitioning Friday said that because they are part of the organization — members are called member-owners because their contributions pay to keep the coop running — they care even more so that it does right by its employees.

Naomi Brussel, who has been a member since 1985, said her main reason for helping out Friday was that she learned the coop staff are "at-will employees" meaning their jobs are at the discretion of the six or so general coordinators that oversee them. Forming a union will help them have more job security, she said.

Brussel added that because member contributions provide both the staff and coordinators salaries, she feels an obligation to do help ensure that happens.

"These are my employees so I don't want to be part of anything that is oppressive to our employees," Brussel said. "The managers are my employees as well, so I would like to persuade my employees to do what I believe is the right thing."

Workers trying to unionize 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."

Connor said Friday that the workers main goal is to have a voice for negotiating schedules, organization of their teams and other important aspects of the job.

"Workers really want respect and a seat at the table and they don't really have that," she said.

Other full-time employees, though, have said that they have "serious reservations" about the idea to unionize. A letter to the coop's newsletter in May signed by 43 of the 76 full-time staff contends that the general coordinators have remained neutral about the union efforts and that most employees believe issues should be solved within the coop.

The coop members will petition outside of the 782 Union St. building at 2 p.m. Friday.