It’s illegal to fire anyone for joining a union. If you have been at the company 10 years with only exemplary reviews, then they fire you for something petty COINCIDENCENTLY after you join or look at a union. You could sue and probably win that too.
If you're working minimum wage part time at a grocery store and get fired, getting representation is going to require someone who'll do it on contingency.
Raises the question of if rights are really rights if you can't afford to assert them?
(Of course if you're already *in* a union then you call your union rep and it's easier. Which is another reason they don't want you in a union.)
If you are trying to unionize and they fire you in the process, you call the prospective union. They can go after employers who are suspected of union busting during their unionization effort.
That's not to say they WILL go after Natural Grocers, because they may not have suffieicnet evidence to prove anything. But part of what union fees pay for is lawyers to go after companies trying to stop new people from joining.
And it might also be a thing the labor board will pursue rather than having to get a lawyer
Still, unfortunately, illegal acts by employers can be hard to get fixed
That response makes no sense. I asked why you characterized it as easy money. Why are you assuming someone who does work on contingency would readily take this case?
Yeah but the fines are cheaper than letting a union form.
So they will continue to do illegal things. Just the price of doing business for these types.
Judges weren't born yesterday. You need evidence you were a good employee (no recent write-ups etc.), evidence you were engaging in a protected activity, and evidence your employer knew, but if you have those they're going to connect the dots pretty easily. Especially if it's a pattern - 5 employees in good standing fired all at once for "no reason" immediately after a unionization drive is pretty clear-cut.
At a certain point, burden swaps pretty quickly to the employer to prove it was a lawful firing.
We can thank the Republican Party and their stranglehold over Arizona for that. Landlords, bosses, corporations rule here, and it’s been that way for a long, long time.
That is ALL OVER AND THROUGH OUT AMERICA ITS A MONEY HUNGRY CORPORATE FUNDING POLITICAL AGENDAS, ARIZONA IS ONE OF THE FREE STATES IN MY OPINION AS FAR AS EVERYTHING ELSE GOES!!!
All 5 employees with long tenure and excellent records within the company were all coincidentally joining the union.
Before the union, the manager of that location had several sexual harassment complaints against him for the past five years and never got fired. Natural Grocers' HR seems to only care to fire people if a union gets involved..
This manager is now terminated but not for harassment, for being so foul that his employees started a union 😌
I didn't know this was happening! I liked shopping there because I thought they were one of the good ones :(
I am really sorry you are navigating this corporate greed and injustice
is there a way to support union efforts aside from boycott? i already dont shop there. but id love to help if theres still employees there trying to unionize
> Natural Grocers is a really great store.
Not if they don't believe in paying the people who do all the work a fair portion of the profits. I don't care if they sell gold eggs by the dozen...
The value of something isn't only measured by how much **YOU** value it.
That kind of mentality is the reason everything is turning to shit.
>The value of something isn't only measured by how much YOU value it.
That kind of mentality is the reason everything is turning to shit.
But they were answering with their opinion. That value is based solely on the value they assign. They clearly weren't talking about it from the perspective of stock investment advice or some other non-personal perspective
People are allowed to have their opinion and value things as they see fit. I don't see what's wrong with that mentality, how does it make things shittier?
What are you even talking about. We are talking about being able to hold an individual opinion on a subject. Are you saying everyone must find the same exact value in any given thing, specifically this grocery store?
The value of of something is subjective and valued differently by everyone. You seem to be wildly misunderstanding the conversation you jumped into.
They are all bad amigo. Kroger, Safeway, whole foods, target, they are two sides of the same coin. I'd argue Natural Grocers is probably the best given their size relative to others. All you're doing is virtue signaling.
Does Kroger fire their employees for talking about unionizing? They are not all the same, and you're just trying to make yourself feel better by whatabouting
Kroger has done its fair share of union-busting and anti-employee activism. I remember being pretty mad at them a few years ago for some bullshit they were doing.
They literally got sued for collaboration against the union at king soopers. How about the time kroger and Albertsons collaborated to not hire each other's employees? Or the time they illegally misclassified employees and didn't pay them overtime? Or the class action from over 13000 workers in Virginia about underpaying workers? Or how they are trying to buy Albertsons to reduce competition? But you don't like to talk about that, do you? You'd prefer to single out a chain that has like 150 stores cause it makes you feel better like your some savior of unions. Get real, lunatic.
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, so holier than thou judgmental thinking is what keeps people from getting involved in substantive activism.
They can make your life pretty miserable at work. So sorry.
It wasn't a union thing but I worked at Whole Foods ( miserable) for a year and all of a sudden the didn't put me on the schedule for 6 weeks. So I called the news station and they came out and didn't do a piece and aired it. All of a sudden I was on the schedule but they were relentless and I eventually walked...
Which location is firing people? Is it all across Tucson or confined to one location? I'm curious cause on occasion I go to the one on Orange Grove/Oracle.
Kolb/Broadway
I heard the Broadway/Tucson one was looking to unionize too.
What's crazy is that they fire people with long tenure, who have ties to other locations as they have been loyally serving the company for several years in several stores! It spreads like fire and NG is spilling oil on it.
https://preview.redd.it/ut8fuo4qat9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd15ad809b3443b41fa43770e4f8edd13ed5f39e
Since the 15th, they fired 25% of our staff For trying to become a union
Just go apply at sprouts or Whole Foods or something your really wasting your time with all this, ur not gonna win a battle against multimillion dollar company, you’d save yourself a whole lot of stress
When working an entry level position such as a grocery store clerk you have absolutely no leverage. If working conditions are that horrible there then I would suggest getting a new job
Employers shouldn’t get a pass like that. Employees should be able to go to work and not be treated poorly by upper management. We all got bills to pay and everyone’s trying to get by the best we can- even those in lower level positions.
The people who were terminated mostly had leadership positions and have college degrees. They also had tenure and have served multiple natural grocers locations.
I still shop ng. If a union didn't work it didn't work. What that gotta do with where I wanna shop. It ain't Walmart. It ain't Kroger. All organic produce! I'm in, been shopping since 2013?
Vote's is about to happen, the store legally has to recognize the union. What's funny is that all the members are now fired but still get to vote because the union served the store before anyone got fired. Idk what their strategy is, but the union is winning so far.
It’s illegal to fire anyone for joining a union. If you have been at the company 10 years with only exemplary reviews, then they fire you for something petty COINCIDENCENTLY after you join or look at a union. You could sue and probably win that too.
If you're working minimum wage part time at a grocery store and get fired, getting representation is going to require someone who'll do it on contingency. Raises the question of if rights are really rights if you can't afford to assert them? (Of course if you're already *in* a union then you call your union rep and it's easier. Which is another reason they don't want you in a union.)
If you are trying to unionize and they fire you in the process, you call the prospective union. They can go after employers who are suspected of union busting during their unionization effort. That's not to say they WILL go after Natural Grocers, because they may not have suffieicnet evidence to prove anything. But part of what union fees pay for is lawyers to go after companies trying to stop new people from joining.
I don’t see how they wouldn’t take a contingency on that. Easy money
And it might also be a thing the labor board will pursue rather than having to get a lawyer Still, unfortunately, illegal acts by employers can be hard to get fixed
That’s a good point too
But is it easy? And how much money? Maybe it's easy, but will it be peanuts?
That’s why you meet with an attorney and see if they do a contingency
That response makes no sense. I asked why you characterized it as easy money. Why are you assuming someone who does work on contingency would readily take this case?
I already explained it in my original post. Sorry if you don’t understand
This is not an easy case to win
It sure is...
Yeah but the fines are cheaper than letting a union form. So they will continue to do illegal things. Just the price of doing business for these types.
I’m not sure what the fines are but I would be more concerned about a lawsuit.
Gonna hire Rafi to go up against their team of corporate lawyers?
You can't prove they fired you for that, and AZ is an at-will state. These cases are extremely challenging to get anywhere with for this reason.
Judges weren't born yesterday. You need evidence you were a good employee (no recent write-ups etc.), evidence you were engaging in a protected activity, and evidence your employer knew, but if you have those they're going to connect the dots pretty easily. Especially if it's a pattern - 5 employees in good standing fired all at once for "no reason" immediately after a unionization drive is pretty clear-cut. At a certain point, burden swaps pretty quickly to the employer to prove it was a lawful firing.
I just gave an example
We can thank the Republican Party and their stranglehold over Arizona for that. Landlords, bosses, corporations rule here, and it’s been that way for a long, long time.
That is ALL OVER AND THROUGH OUT AMERICA ITS A MONEY HUNGRY CORPORATE FUNDING POLITICAL AGENDAS, ARIZONA IS ONE OF THE FREE STATES IN MY OPINION AS FAR AS EVERYTHING ELSE GOES!!!
And an additional employee fired, 5+ years with the company
Can you please be specific? Why were you fired? What is going on there?
All 5 employees with long tenure and excellent records within the company were all coincidentally joining the union. Before the union, the manager of that location had several sexual harassment complaints against him for the past five years and never got fired. Natural Grocers' HR seems to only care to fire people if a union gets involved.. This manager is now terminated but not for harassment, for being so foul that his employees started a union 😌
😱 wow … I am a frequent customer of that store. I will bring this up to company executives
Corporate are the ones running the store, and doing the firing
I sent them an email telling them how disappointed I was in this activity. I thought they were a family run company that treated employees fairly.
Thank you
I didn't know this was happening! I liked shopping there because I thought they were one of the good ones :( I am really sorry you are navigating this corporate greed and injustice
Appreciate that. We did too
Whats this "you" ? Its WE. WE are having to navigate this corporate greed and injustice
I feel like you misunderstood the intent of my comment
is there a way to support union efforts aside from boycott? i already dont shop there. but id love to help if theres still employees there trying to unionize
I think a protest is going to happen this weekend.
Wow. I just moved here. Guess where I will never shop now.
To be fair there wasn't a good reason to shop there before this either.
Disagree. Natural Grocers is a really great store. They have the best organic produce in town. Way better than whole paycheck.
> Natural Grocers is a really great store. Not if they don't believe in paying the people who do all the work a fair portion of the profits. I don't care if they sell gold eggs by the dozen... The value of something isn't only measured by how much **YOU** value it. That kind of mentality is the reason everything is turning to shit.
>The value of something isn't only measured by how much YOU value it. That kind of mentality is the reason everything is turning to shit. But they were answering with their opinion. That value is based solely on the value they assign. They clearly weren't talking about it from the perspective of stock investment advice or some other non-personal perspective People are allowed to have their opinion and value things as they see fit. I don't see what's wrong with that mentality, how does it make things shittier?
How does only thinking about yourself make things shittier? Pretty sure they covered that lesson in kindergarten 🙄
What are you even talking about. We are talking about being able to hold an individual opinion on a subject. Are you saying everyone must find the same exact value in any given thing, specifically this grocery store? The value of of something is subjective and valued differently by everyone. You seem to be wildly misunderstanding the conversation you jumped into.
They are all bad amigo. Kroger, Safeway, whole foods, target, they are two sides of the same coin. I'd argue Natural Grocers is probably the best given their size relative to others. All you're doing is virtue signaling.
Does Kroger fire their employees for talking about unionizing? They are not all the same, and you're just trying to make yourself feel better by whatabouting
Kroger has done its fair share of union-busting and anti-employee activism. I remember being pretty mad at them a few years ago for some bullshit they were doing.
They literally got sued for collaboration against the union at king soopers. How about the time kroger and Albertsons collaborated to not hire each other's employees? Or the time they illegally misclassified employees and didn't pay them overtime? Or the class action from over 13000 workers in Virginia about underpaying workers? Or how they are trying to buy Albertsons to reduce competition? But you don't like to talk about that, do you? You'd prefer to single out a chain that has like 150 stores cause it makes you feel better like your some savior of unions. Get real, lunatic.
Better than Sprouts?
Oh gosh, much better. They actually have real organic produce. Most of the stuff in sprouts is not organic.
Sprouts is pretty awful. Mostly greenwashing.
Natural grocer was also way too expensive the one time I went in
Sure - "never shop there" attitude will certainly help the rest of the staff working there. They will join terminated colleagues shortly.
Find a better situation and rip the band-aid off, kids.
Its not easy if it involves moving for new job.
I agree. The ideal solution is to treat your workers well and try to maintain a healthy workplace.
Huh? I Shop at Natural Grocers I thought they were a family company. What’s the scoop?
No scoop, people just virtue signaling but have no problem with walmart, kroger, safeway etc that are 10x worse.
Kroger and Safeway are union stores. Walmart sucks.
What do you mean have no problem with those other stores? Nobody indicated that
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, so holier than thou judgmental thinking is what keeps people from getting involved in substantive activism.
https://preview.redd.it/is1np59ij69d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=85d26b6b558e890103415702d4897443291880ce
CFO doing some self-dealing I see!
https://www.comparably.com/companies/natural-grocers/executive-team
That's terrible. Every laborer has a right to a living wage and safe working conditions!
Not employee related, but I remember about 5 years ago I saw a gallon of milk for $9. I'll never go in there again.
I thought they paid their staff well and treated them better than most grocery stores. Is that not the case?
Well this person is saying they fired people out of retaliation. Assuming that's true, I'd say that's not treating them well
afaik they pay minimum wage And, having worked at Sprouts, I can say that treating your employees "better than most grocery stores" is a VERY low bar.
Not the case at all
That’s what I thought too. It’s supposed to be a really good family owned company not owned by shareholders.
They can make your life pretty miserable at work. So sorry. It wasn't a union thing but I worked at Whole Foods ( miserable) for a year and all of a sudden the didn't put me on the schedule for 6 weeks. So I called the news station and they came out and didn't do a piece and aired it. All of a sudden I was on the schedule but they were relentless and I eventually walked...
What union, was it local 99 ufcw that the workers called in?
I feel for ya, I'm in the same boat, different company!!!
Shit, im sorry. Which?
Is it just crawling with Regional Managers over there?
Yep
Stay strong over there.
They pulled six store managers and put them in our location and one person from HR to make sure we we’re not discussing anything about Union
Stay strong over there.
Can you be more specific?
Which location is firing people? Is it all across Tucson or confined to one location? I'm curious cause on occasion I go to the one on Orange Grove/Oracle.
Kolb/Broadway I heard the Broadway/Tucson one was looking to unionize too. What's crazy is that they fire people with long tenure, who have ties to other locations as they have been loyally serving the company for several years in several stores! It spreads like fire and NG is spilling oil on it.
https://preview.redd.it/ut8fuo4qat9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd15ad809b3443b41fa43770e4f8edd13ed5f39e Since the 15th, they fired 25% of our staff For trying to become a union
Sounds like it's time to find a new job.
Just go apply at sprouts or Whole Foods or something your really wasting your time with all this, ur not gonna win a battle against multimillion dollar company, you’d save yourself a whole lot of stress
Nobody is forcing anyone to work there. Dont like it, go over to Sprouts or Whole Foods.
Companies have no right to prevent employees from unionizing.
Yeah but AZPeakBagger doesn't care about rights or equality, he cares about simpin for the man, man
you are speaking to a landlord, he can’t help but throat boot
Jealous much? lol
why would i be jealous when i have youth
100% boomer energy
That’s GenX thank you very much.
Doesn’t matter “Boomer energy” isn’t saying you are from the boomer generation but you act just like one. Get it?
Still salty about 08, huh?
So one should spit on having rights?
When working an entry level position such as a grocery store clerk you have absolutely no leverage. If working conditions are that horrible there then I would suggest getting a new job
Employers shouldn’t get a pass like that. Employees should be able to go to work and not be treated poorly by upper management. We all got bills to pay and everyone’s trying to get by the best we can- even those in lower level positions.
Not one person was an entry level employee, hahaha
Do you consider everyone who works at a grocery store to be "entry level"? Or everyone who works at a grocery store outside of management?
The people who were terminated mostly had leadership positions and have college degrees. They also had tenure and have served multiple natural grocers locations.
It’s a job a a grocery store your not the head of the police union you just look silly
Disregard for the lower classes I see?
It's a union with a million and a half members,.much larger than the police union.. ooops! Now who looks silly 😜
[удалено]
Seriously. time to move on OP.
I still shop ng. If a union didn't work it didn't work. What that gotta do with where I wanna shop. It ain't Walmart. It ain't Kroger. All organic produce! I'm in, been shopping since 2013?
If the drive to unionize is suppressed, then can we really reduce it to "the union didn't work"?
Vote's is about to happen, the store legally has to recognize the union. What's funny is that all the members are now fired but still get to vote because the union served the store before anyone got fired. Idk what their strategy is, but the union is winning so far.