The owners of Healthy Living markets are contesting their employees’ successful union vote and are seeking to invalidate the results.
At the same time, the union the employees hope to join, Workers United, has filed unfair labor-practice allegations against Healthy Living and accused them of “union busting” tactics.
Employees at the market’s three stores in Vermont and New York State voted on April 30 to unionize by a margin of 105-69. But in a May 8 filing with the National Labor Review Board, Healthy Living alleged that Workers United had illegally pressured its employees ahead of the election.
In the complaint, Healthy Living accused Workers United of engaging in coercion, “electioneering and campaign activity that exceeded lawful limits.” The complaint also claims some of Healthy Living’s own employees were “serving as union organizers” and “acting as agents of Workers United.” It also accused Workers United of disseminating misinformation regarding which employees were eligible to vote.
In response, members of the organizing committee at Healthy Living and Workers United held a press conference outside the market’s flagship South Burlington store last week. They urged ownership to withdraw the complaint and negotiate in good faith.
The unfair labor-practices complaint filed by Workers United alleges managers broke federal regulations meant to protect the right to unionize. Employees suspected of supporting the union effort were interrogated, surveilled, disciplined and retaliated against, according to the complaint.
Healthy Living was founded by Katy Lesser in 1986 and is managed by her children, Eli and Nina Lesser-Goldsmith. Eli Lesser-Goldsmith did not return multiple requests for comment.
At last Wednesday’s press conference, Paul Podbielski, a worker at the South Burlington store, called out the family owners by name for refusing to recognize the union.
“To the owners, Katy, Nina and Eli, we are proud of our democratic decision to unionize, and we stand firm by our decision,” he said. “I know that this union can work collaboratively with you instead of in opposition. The organizing committee has worked to correspond with the essential values that make Healthy Living a one-of-a-kind place to be.”
Ben Calabrese, a cook at the Healthy Living in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., said workers there grew interested in unionizing after they discovered “massive discrepancies” in pay; longtime workers were making less than those who had just been hired, he alleged.
“The three family members who run this store, the Lesser-Goldsmiths, they have preached about how they have an open-door policy, so I’d like to think that that policy could hopefully extend to contract negotiations and bargaining,” he said.
“I love the store. I love my co-workers. Since organizing, we have gotten to know one another and are supporting each other even more, and I think that we want to expand and grow the ideals that Katy [Lesser] originally set up,” said Cynthia “Joy” Hall, a retired University of Vermont Medical Center nurse who works at the South Burlington store.
Healthy Living employees were joined last week by others connected to the labor movement in Vermont. Burlington City Councilor Marek Broderk (P-Ward 8) pledged his support, as did AFL-CIO organizer Matthew Vigneau. Antonio Golan, cofounder of the cooperatively owned Burlington theater Partizanfilm, lent his support as the owner of a business with a small, unionized workforce.
Workers and speakers repeatedly said that their goal was to have a contract by Labor Day, but a National Labor Review Board investigation into Healthy Living’s allegations will likely take months.
“All of us workers make these places run,” Podbielski said, “They wouldn’t unless we showed up, and it’s time that we remind folks who has the real power.”
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