But proving that an employer is closing a location because of union activity - a violation of federal law - is is hard to prove in court, and not heavily punished even when it can be shown to have occurred. "That is a frequent union-busting strategy," she said. Rebecca Kolins Givan, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, said closing a store or other company facility is common way for employers to snuff out union activity. New York University, the property owner, told Gothamist there were several years remaining on Trader Joe's lease for the store, which was in Manhattan's Union Square neighborhood. Observers have also questioned the timing of the closure, with colleges set to reopen and a holiday shopping season that typically accounts for half a liquor store's annual sales. "Nobody closes a profitable store in the dead of night with no notice to their employees."
This behavior is extraordinary," said David Young, the UFCW's head of organizing.
"They cannot be allowed to continue to do these types of things. The United Food and Commercial Workers, which was helping the wine store workers organize, called the closure "egregious and blatant union busting." The New York City wine store would have been the highest-profile union drive at a company that has opposed organized labor, with CEO Dan Bane claiming in a 2020 letter that union-organizing campaigns were a "distraction" cooked up by labor leaders to sow division among workers. Two Trader Joe's locations recently voted to unionize, with a third election scheduled at a Boulder, Colorado, store next week. Still, the unusual circumstances around the store closure highlight the high-stakes battle as a wave of retail workers try to unionize and supposedly progressive employers trying to dissuade them. For our loyal wine shop customers, we are actively looking for another location that will allow us to sell wine in New York and look forward to welcoming you into our new TJ's wine shop as soon as possible." Unions gain momentum "After 15 years of operating an underperforming wine shop and planning for a busy holiday grocery season, we decided that the best way forward is to support our Union Square grocery operations using the space previously occupied by the wine shop. "Trader Joe's respects our Crew's right to support a union - or not," Rohde said in an email. Nakia Rohde, a spokesperson for the company, said the New York wine store was "underperforming" and that the company was searching for another location. Trader Joe's denies that the closure was union-related.
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