Picketing continues at Trader Joe's store

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4103

By Rose Friedman
13 July 2009

ST. PAUL - Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 are picketing the new Trader Joe’s grocery store in St. Paul.
The store, which opened June 26 at the corner of Lexington Parkway and Randolph Avenue, has drawn criticism from Local 789 leaders, who say the chain’s workers were not given an option to unionize and that the store will detract business from nearby unionized stores.

“The grocery dollar is finite; it’s not growing,” said Bernie Hesse, Local 789’s director of special projects.



FCW members picket outside the new Trader Joe's store in St. Paul.

Photo by Michael Moore

Hesse has been picketing the store along with other UFCW members since the opening. He worries that shoppers who normally buy groceries at union stores will turn their loyalties over to Trader Joe’s.

“This is about $8 million a year that isn’t going to union stores,” he said.

Other UFCW members said they were on the picket line to let Trader Joe’s workers know they have the right to unionize. “We aren’t telling them you have to have a union,” said picketer Debbie Pabarcus. “We just want to lay out what we can offer.”

FULL story at link.