Three years ago, I was forced into a union against my will. While my coworkers and I tried to free ourselves, we were stifled every step of the way. We needed better federal labor laws — such as the bills introduced in both the House and Senate in recent days.
Leaders such as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Randy Fine (R-FL) have recently written some of the most pro-worker legislation in decades. My own experience with unionization shows how necessary these reforms are.
I worked at the first Trader Joe’s store to unionize, in Hadley, Massachusetts. From the beginning, my coworkers and I were misled by union organizers. They said that if 30% of us signed authorization cards, it would start a discussion about whether to unionize. But the cards didn’t kickstart a discussion — they forced an election. The union tried to skip that, too, by asking the company to recognize it via card check. In the end, the union won the election, after misleading us and trying to deny us a vote. We needed Foxx’s Union Members Right to Know Act, which would have given us far more information about the union that wanted a slice of our money.
After the union was elected, things got worse. The union essentially chose its own leaders after holding a vote that it didn’t publicize, which led to low turnout among my coworkers. I was later told that the union wanted to elect the “right people” — democracy be darned. This is why Fine’s Protecting Union Representation and Elections Act, which would require secret ballot elections for union officers, is so important.
At the bargaining sessions with Trader Joe’s, our newly elected leaders didn’t start by talking about the most important issues, such as wages or benefits. Instead, they focused on abortion coverage and pronoun pins, which Trader Joe’s already provided. I told my coworkers about this, and many were concerned. But when I showed up to the next bargaining session, the union wouldn’t let me in.
By the end of 2023, many of us had had enough. We began getting signatures for an election to remove the union — a process known as “decertification.” We got more than enough signatures required by federal law. When we turned them over to the National Labor Relations Board, however, it refused to hold another election. The board’s regional director said that it was investigating Trader Joe’s for unfair labor practices, based on charges filed by the union. So long as those charges were active, there couldn’t be a vote to get rid of the union.
I was shocked. I had never seen the company act unfairly. And the union filed its complaints with questionable evidence, overwhelming the system and blocking our ability to vote. But the NLRB shouldn’t block anyone from voting to decertify their union. That’s a fundamental worker right under federal law.
I ended up moving to Michigan and working at a non-unionized Trader Joe’s store. But I still wish I’d been able to benefit from Cassidy’s reforms. His Worker Reforming Elections for Speedy and Unimpeded Labor Talks Act may have prevented the NLRB from blocking decertification elections in many cases involving allegations of unfair labor practices. And his Fairness in Filing Act would make it harder for unions to file frivolous unfair labor practice charges to begin with.
Had these reforms been in place, my old coworkers could have voted to remove the union — something I believe most of them wanted to do, given how the union had failed to represent us. I also wish we had the Employee Rights Act, which Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced in October and Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA) introduced over the summer. It would ensure that workers like me have the privacy and protections we need in pretty much all things union-related.
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We’re far from the only workers who’ve had this kind of bad experience. Nor are we the only people who’ve been blocked from freeing ourselves from union control. I just want the freedom to work without being forced into an organization that doesn’t have my best interests at heart.
I’m grateful that leaders such as Cassidy, Scott, Foxx, Fine, and Allen are supporting bills that put workers like me first. If they become the law of the land, no American worker will ever endure the injustices that my coworkers and I have faced.
Michael Alcorn is an adviser at the Institute for the American Worker.
