Interest in Unionizing Increasing Among Home Depot Workers
Thursday July 22, 5:36 pm ET
Union Representation Election Scheduled at Harper Woods Store
MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich., July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Workers at the Harper Woods Home Depot store will decide next week if they will become the first Home Depot workers in the country to elect union representation.
"Workers at several area Home Depot stores contacted us looking to improve their working conditions by unionizing their stores," Andy Johnson, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 876's president, said. "Workers at the Harper Woods store moved very quickly and petitioned the federal government to conduct a union representation election."
On July 30 and 31, representatives from the National Labor Relations Board will conduct a secret ballot election in which workers at the store located at 20300 Kelly Rd. in Harper Woods will vote for or against UFCW Local 876 representation.
"The employer is doing their best to convince workers to vote against unionizing," Johnson said. "Ever since Home Depot realized these are workers serious about standing up and exercising their right to form a union, the company has waged your typical union busting campaign."
It was this type of union busting campaign that led the UFCW to file unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB on behalf of Home Depot workers at the Hill St. store in Flint. The charges allege Home Depot engaged in illegal activity when it interfered with the workers' right to organize a union at their workplace.
"The NLRB has issued a complaint on these charges ordering Home Depot to cease and desist from such action and scheduled a formal hearing regarding the charges for September 23, 2004," Johnson said.
Several common issues led Home Depot workers at different stores to undertake union organizing efforts including a desire to put an end to their status as "at-will" employees with no workplace guarantees or protections, and being forced to shoulder more than what they believe to be their fair share of increasing health insurance costs.
Workers from both the Harper Woods and Flint stores are available for interviews and are willing to answer questions regarding their organizing campaigns and Home Depot's union busting efforts.
UFCW Local 876 represents over 22,000 workers in eastern and northern Michigan who work for Kroger, Farmer Jack, Rite Aid, and at numerous other commercial worksites including meat packing plants. The UFCW is one of the three largest unions in the Michigan AFL/CIO. The UFCW International is the largest private sector union in the country, with over 1.4 million members.
Posted by UFCW 227 at July 22, 2004 06:53 PM