MOM’s employees vote to stay in union

By LILLIAN GLAROS

Workers at MOM’s Organic Market on Rhode Island Avenue voted 22-9 on Nov. 19 to keep their union.

The vote came after an attempt by some unionized employees, aided by the anti-union National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, to decertify, or remove, the union as the workers’ bargaining representative.

“We’re ecstatic that the bargaining unit voted yes again for the union … and rightfully so,” Laura Jackson, a MOM’s employee, said. “They want job protections, they want livable wages and better health insurance. They voted yes for that today.”

According to Patrick Semmens, the vice president of the right-to-work foundation, decertification of the union would have stripped the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400 of its ability to enter into a contract and charge member dues. 

But Jonathan Williams, the communications director for the union, said without a union and its bargaining power, workers would have no control over their working conditions, wages and benefits.

Still, Maria Sanya Dobbins, the MOM’s employee who led the effort to decertify, said the workers do not need a union, even though 80% of employees who voted in December 2022 on whether to unionize supported the effort.

Supporters at that time said the store engaged in unfair workplace practices, offering employees no paid time off during their first two years on the job, a restricted amount of sick time, low wages and dangerous work conditions, The Diamondback reported in October 2023.

“I have been working for MOM’s for 19 years,” Dobbins said in a press release published by the  right-to-work group. “We have an understanding management team that has always been there for us and our families. We do not need a union to come and take money out of our paycheck when we have the best management team.”

But Jackson, who is part of the bargaining team, said store officials “simply don’t want to bargain over fair wages.”

Jackson said the effort to decertify the union started when negotiations between the union and store management got to the wage portion of the union contract, which has not yet been finalized.

Semmens said the decertification effort might have stemmed, in part, from the fact that a union contract has not been reached nearly a year after employees voted to join the union.

But Williams said the contract effort often is a time-consuming process.

“This is a long process in most cases,” Williams said. “Often the first union contract takes well over a year to negotiate because you’re beginning from scratch. You’re not modifying an existing agreement. You’re starting with a blank page.”

Williams said the union is sympathetic to the concerns of some workers about the length of time it is taking to reach an agreement, but he said the union is making progress.

For example, Williams said, the union reached a tentative agreement with the market on a three-step employee disciplinary process and a 10-minute grace period for tardiness. 

“What we can guarantee is that we will fight tooth and nail for what our members think is most important,” Williams said.

Williams also said the decertification effort was encouraged both by the store’s management and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation because of “dollars and cents.”

“This is all part of an effort to undermine the ability of these employees to exercise their rights and win a contract that improves their jobs,” Williams said. 

The store has also engaged in some “union-busting” tactics, according to Jackson.

For example, Jackson said she was disciplined after posting flyers for the union shortly after she had received a positive performance review.

“It’s making people feel scared about being pro-union,” Jackson said.