Workers were taking steps to unionize when Trader Joe's shuttered Union Square wine shop
Workers at the Trader Joe’s Wine Shop in Union Square were getting ready to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board when the company abruptly closed its store last week, according to interviews with several employees on Thursday. A group of employees had been working with The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union since April, meeting weekly to build an organizing strategy. Last Monday, the group found they had enough support – 22 verbal “yes” votes out of around 30 employees – to go public with their efforts the following week. But on the morning of August 11th, they woke up to news that the store had closed for good. Loyal customers stopped outside the store to read a closure notice on the Trader Joe’s storefront, expressing confusion and disbelief. But workers told Gothamist they had an inkling as to what was behind the seemingly abrupt decision. “My first thought was that they had found out that we were intending to submit cards [proving