Employees of a Target in Brooklyn, NY have done what was once considered unthinkable: organize a union at a Target store. According to the Wall Street Journal: “A group of less than a dozen pharmacy employees in Brooklyn, N.Y., passed the measure on Sept. 8 after the National Labor Relations Board approved a request to conduct a vote. Target had argued against the vote, saying it shouldn’t have been allowed given the pending sale of the company’s pharmacy business to CVS Health for $1.9 billion. Target plans to appeal the NLRB’s decision to allow the vote, said spokeswoman Molly Snyder.” “The union would be the first such group among Target’s nearly 350,000 employees. There have only been two votes to unionize at Target stores since 1990, according to Ms. Snyder: at Valley Stream, N.Y., in 2011, and in the Detroit area in 1990. Both were rejected. The Brooklyn employees decided to pursue a union vote after CVS agreed to buy Target’s pharmacy business, according to a pharmacy employee at the location who asked not to be named. Staffers were worried about potential layoffs, reductions in their hourly wages or other labor changes after the CVS deal, the employee said.” A few years ago, conservatives and the like laughed at the notion of retail and fast food workers unionizing. The times are changing, however, with more and more workers in low pay industries saying enough is enough and looking towards unions for a real voice on the job. – See more at: http://labor411.org/411-blog/881-workers-unionize-at-target-for-the-first-time-in-the-chain-s-history#sthash.C7LOjs6Y.dpuf

 Business Day | Business Briefing

Workers at Alabama Plant Vote to Join the U.A.W.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSSEPT. 23, 2015

Workers at an auto parts plant in northeast Alabama cited issues such as wage caps and growing use of temporary workers in their vote to join a labor union. Employees at the plant in Piedmont, owned by the Commercial Vehicle Group, voted Wednesday to join the United Auto Workers. The plant makes seats for large commercial trucks. Workers said in a release that they voted 89-45 to join the union because of high health care costs in addition to pay issues and wider use of temps who don’t qualify for benefits. The company’s chief human resources officer, Laura Macias, said in an emailed statement that officials don’t believe union representation is in the best interest of employees, but officials respect workers’ rights to vote.

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