By a razor-slim margin (22-21), employees at the East End Food Co-op failed in their attempt to win legally guaranteed collective bargaining rights.  On August 30th Co-op workers participated in a union recognition election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.  Voting turnout topped 84%, but the East End Food Co-op Workers Committee, affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World, fell just two votes short of a majority that would have given the union the right to bargain collectively over terms and conditions of employment. National labor law compels an employer to recognize a union for the purpose of collective bargaining if a majority of employees vote for the union in a secret-ballot election run by the NLRB. 

The current Co-op organizing campaign, which began on May 15th 2006, is the second and most progressive attempt by employees to establish legally protected collective bargaining rights.  In June the Co-op’s Board of Directors and General Manager refused to voluntarily recognize the union through the legally accepted union authorization card-check procedure, claiming that card counting was not a democratic indication of majority support for the union.  In July the union held an independent card count and verified through the impartial Thomas Merton Center that a majority of Co-op workers did in fact support the union as their collective bargaining agent.  Unable to move the Co-op into accepting such evidence, the union then tried to negotiate with management over terms for a non-NLRB election.  During such talks the union unsuccessfully tried to establish a number of agreements over a basic meeting protocol, employer neutrality, and the Co-op’s continued use of known anti-union consultants.  Additionally, the union felt that during such talks the employer was unfairly favoring an intervening party in the negotiations.  Citing unnecessary complications to the process by management and certain impasse around particular issues, the union broke off negotiations with the Co-op in late July and petitioned the NLRB to facilitate a recognition election.        

By Melissa Meinzer - Pittsburgh City Paper, August 10, 2006. 

East End Food Co-op workers and management have compromised: They will now accept federal supervision of an election to decide whether employees will unionize.

The Co-op’s 50 non-management employees will vote in a National Labor Relations Board-stipulated election on Aug. 30 on whether to adopt the (Industrial) Workers of the World as their union. Management and workers reached agreement on Aug. 7, pending final approval from the NLRB regional director, expected as soon as Aug. 8.

On July 29th, the East End Food Co-op Workers Committee/IWW filed for a union recognition election with the National Labor Relations Board. We believe that involving the NLRB at this time will expedite the process towards an election and provide us with clear, legal guidance in determining certain legal issues, such as defining the bargaining unit and the conditions by which an election is valid.

Since July 12th we had tried to negotiate the terms of a non-NLRB election with management and UCW, but we found the process to be too complicated and impractical. In addition, certain issues such as ballot design were certain for impasse—a stalemate that would have eventually involved the NLRB. As there was no guarantee that a third-party election agreement would be reached by the end of July, it was in our best interest that we proceed with an NLRB election and let the Board resolve any issues upon which the parties have not reached agreement to date.

NLRB involvement addresses the concerns of both management and the union that employees participate in a democratic, fair, and legally valid election. With the NLRB’s guidance, we are assured that all of us can participate in a meaningful process towards union representation.

By Melissa Meinzer - Pittsburgh City Paper, July 20, 2006 

For many workers at the East End Food Co-op, the road to union recognition gets longer with every step they trudge. Although union supporters say a majority of workers have voted in favor of a union, the co-op is declining to recognize the election, in part because of a rival union effort begun by a former manager. And there is another source of controversy: the co-op’s hiring of Braun Consulting — an organization seen by many employees as anti-union.

Workers at the Point Breeze natural foods outlet, who have been trying unsuccessfully to unionize for years, thought that their most recent push would be enough to have management recognize the Industrial Workers of the World as their union. They say that more than half of the 55-person staff signed union authorization cards between May 19 and June 7. While members of the Workers Committee, the employee group heading up the IWW push, won’t reveal just how many signed cards they have, committee member Evan Wolfson calls it “a clear majority.”