Food Co-op Employees Vote Against Unionization, Focus on Building Community and Communication

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Employees of the Port Townsend Food Co-op voted against unionizing on Wednesday. Photo by Angela Downs.  [/caption]

News by Nhatt Nichols

Last Wednesday, February 19, the Port Townsend Food Co-op employees gathered in the dining room to decide if collectivizing was right for them, ultimately deciding against unionizing in a tight 37-41 vote.

With the employees split so evenly, co-op workers and management have a great deal of work to do to create harmony among employees who disagree about the co-op's needs. Fortunately, employees have seen unionizing as only one option for improving their work environment and are dedicated to finding alternatives to unionization, at least in the immediate future.

Despite initially feeling disappointed by the vote, co-op employee and union organizer Corvis Woolf sees the whole process as generally positive with how it brought people together.

“That was a huge success in my book. Folks are going on hikes together and going out for coffee. People know more about each other, and it really did build community,” Woolf said.

General Manager Kenna Eaton has said from the beginning that she personally didn’t think unionizing was the right move for the co-op and that there were alternative ways to address problems within the workplace.

In an email statement, Eaton said, “The Co-op respects and accepts the results of the election and will continue to work with our employees, member-owners, and the community to make the store a great place to work and shop. We acknowledge there were strong feelings, both for and against unionization, and we’ll continue to listen to both viewpoints as we move forward.”

Those involved with the unionizing effort plan to find ways to increase communication between other employees and the management team.

“We're going to look at making proposals that we will bring to management. We're going to work on fighting alienation within the workplace, creating a nonpolitical, non-work community chat so that people can feel more connected. When we do have further actions, we'll have more of a foundation of trust rather than having to create the connections at the same time as doing the work,” Woolf said.

Co-op cashier George Sawyer also feels positive about what they accomplished. “I think the key point is that people are not talking about giving up,” Sawyer said.

One direction Sawyer would like to see organized energy take is increasing communication between board members and employees. Though the general manager reports to the board, there is little direct communication between board members and employees.

The board is currently recruiting four new board members, which is one potential path forward for an increase in communication between employees and the board members who oversee management, according to Sawyer.

If you are interested in becoming a board member, the next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 5, at 5.30 PM. At that meeting, there will be information about the next steps and the opportunity to ask questions. For more information, visit https://www.foodcoop.coop/boardservice