Last Updated on May 9, 2024, 12:47 PM | Published: May 8, 2024
NORMAN, Oklahoma – Community and organizational allies of workers at the Natural Grocers location in Norman picketed the store along with former workers over the weekend over conditions and union organization. Current workers want to form a union to address the work environment and communications with management at the store but were too intimidated to walk the picket line themselves.
UPDATE — In response to this report, management at Natural Grocers in Norman sent a statement which is embedded at the end of this report.
Workers filed for a union election on April 8 and are scheduled to hold their election for representation on Thursday, May 9.
In attempted communications with the company, workers say they have been very clear about what they want from management, and what their goals would be in unionizing. They’re asking for these five things:
- Adequate healthcare.
- To protect pregnant workers’ rights.
- Protection from employment at will and anti-union retaliation.
- For accessible Bereavement Leave, regardless of blood relation, specifically for fellow deceased coworkers.
- To protect annual raises for all workers.
Currently, Homeland is the only grocery company where workers are unionized in the OKC metro area. The company also has the distinction of being employee-owned.
If the workers are successful in their bid to become unionized they would be represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and be a part of their Local 1000.
Free Press was on the ground during the picket and spoke to several members of the community backing the workers’ right to unionize.
Supporters
Joe Lee, member of UFCW Local 1000, was there showing support. He said, “The employees of Natural Grocers called us. They were interested in forming a union because they wanted to have a voice in the workplace, and they wanted better representation because they felt like the company wasn’t listening to them. They kept piling more rules and regulations on top of them.”
One supporter of the Natural Grocers workers was Lindsey Davies, Red Dirt Collective member. Red Dirt Collective does community outreach.
“Red Dirt Collective does a lot of work with unionizing and organizing within the community to help the poor and working class, and we feel it’s very important that workers have as much say in what happens in their day-to-day life,” she told Free Press. “We just stand in solidarity and are working to make sure that Natural Grocers is able to unionize.”
Another supporter, Laura Bray, attended from the Oklahoma City chapter of Democratic Socialists of America and spoke to Free Press about the work.
“We’re out here supporting Natural Grocers workers in their fight for a union and demands for basic dignity at work,” Bray said. “It’s disappointing but not surprising to hear that another supposedly progressive company would rather spend their time and money on union-busting instead of simply listening to their own workers. We want the workers to know that as fellow workers and neighbors, we’ve got their backs!”
Company fights union push
Management at Natural Grocers has taken a negative approach to employees wanting to form a union.
Lately, they’ve been holding 2-hour “captive audience meetings”. These meetings have been held in uncomfortable storage closets when they have access to a “big education room”. This development could lead to the workers filing a complaint with the NLRB over unfair labor practices.
Testimonials of company behavior
One former employee who worked at Natural Grocers from 2018 to 2022, Cecily Rodriguez, spoke to Free Press about some problems with management stemming from the workers’ push for unionization.
After she was fired, she went to return her keys to the store, Rodriguez told us. While she was doing that she decided to hand off a unionizer’s number to another worker there. After that, she received an email from HR saying because of her “disruptive behavior” she was banned from all Natural Grocers locations.
Later, while shopping at Natural Grocers in Norman, the store manager came up to her and her partner and told her she had to leave because she gave out an organizer’s number.
Another worker who had been involved with unionizing efforts since 2022 is Willow McCartney who spoke on the record with Free Press about her struggles with the company.
McCartney said that she was told she was “unhireable” by Natural Grocers after she put in her 2 weeks notice. In her time with Natural Grocers, she witnessed management become more aggressive over the push to unionize by holding “captive audience meetings”, sending different corporate representatives into the store, and interrogating workers.
McCartney detailed what Natural Grocers had been doing to break up the process of employees forming a union. “They had somebody come in and give us ‘union education’, and they would put us in this small room and give us this slideshow.”
“It was basically just this presentation I believe meant to scare us out of unionizing,” said McCartney.
They have continued to do these captive audience presentations about unions where they take a couple of employees and put them in a room and continue talking about how unions are not good. That’s continued after I’ve left the company,” McCartney said she heard.
She also witnessed management come down on pro-union employees for small things that usually wouldn’t cause such blowback.
“People had been getting written up for simple things like being two minutes late or just nitpicking us on breaks,” said McCartney. “They told me I was not rehireable because of my attendance. I didn’t have any write-ups my whole time with them of four years. Never was written up for anything. I think they were just trying to find a reason to make sure I never get back into the company because they knew I was pro-union.”
McCartney continued, “And I know of other employees who were targeted because they were pro-union. Anybody else in the store that I consider ‘favorites’ has not been targeted for anything. They weren’t under the microscope. They weren’t getting pulled into the office every single day. There are just certain people I know who were really pushing for the union who are constantly getting called into the office for little things, which I believe is targeting.”
Even after quitting, McCartney said that she still supports the workers and wants them to succeed.
A spokesperson for Natural Grocers management wasn’t immediately available at publication.
Update, Thursday, May 9
On Thursday, a spokesperson for the company issued the following statement which has not been edited except to convert the document to a PDF document for technical purposes of posting here.
5.9.2024-NG-Norman-OK-media-statementFree Press will continue to cover this movement for employee union representation at the store.
Alex Gatley covers labor activities in the state of Oklahoma.
