Dear John,
Trader Joe’s loves to market itself as a friendly, progressive employer — the kind of place where crew members are valued just as much as customers. But while Congress is busy slashing Medicaid and Medicare for working people, many Trader Joe’s crew members still lack employer-provided health coverage.
The reality is that Trader Joe’s corporate has chosen to fight its own workers instead of supporting them. When employees organized under Trader Joe’s United to win fair wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions, management responded by illegally withholding benefits from unionized stores, firing union supporters, and flooding workers with anti-union messaging.
Trader Joe’s even joined billionaire-led corporate giants — Amazon, Starbucks, and SpaceX — in a lawsuit threatening to disband the National Labor Relations Board itself as unconstitutional. That’s not progressive — it’s hypocritical.
It’s time for Trader Joe’s to live up to its progressive reputation and support the well-being of its employees. Send a message demanding that Trader Joe’s offer comprehensive, affordable health insurance to all employees — and stop attacking labor rights now.
This is a billion-dollar corporation claiming to be your “neighborhood grocery store” while treating its workers like disposable labor. The people who stock shelves, help customers, and design custom-made chalkboard signs should not have to worry about whether they can afford to see a doctor.
A federal judge has ordered the company to pay over $100,000 to the
union for filing a frivolous trademark lawsuit meant to drain resources,
and the NLRB is investigating union-busting while requiring Trader
Joe’s to bargain in New York. Yet instead of listening to crew members, the company doubles down on intimidation and legal maneuvers.
It’s time for Trader Joe’s to live up to its image and the values it projects. We demand:
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Comprehensive, affordable health insurance for all employees
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An end to union-busting tactics
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Good-faith bargaining with Trader Joe’s United
Trader Joe’s can’t have it both ways. If it wants to be seen as a great place to work, it must stop acting like the billion-dollar corporate behemoths to which it claims to be an alternative.
Send your message now: Trader Joe’s must choose between standing for workers’ healthcare rights, or corporate hypocrisy.
Thank you for insisting that healthcare is a basic human right that must be respected.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
