In the world of big-box discounters, Target enjoys a reputation as a model corporate citizen that sells the latest in cheap chic. That’s a sharp contrast to the image of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, which labor unions have pilloried for years, accusing it of providing skimpy wages and benefits and skirting various labor laws.þþþBut the arrows are about to come flying at Target’s famous bull’s-eye logo. The nation’s largest union for retail workers has embarked on its first broad campaign to unionize Target workers.þþThe union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, is trying to organize 5,000 workers at 27 Target stores in the New York City area. A majority of workers at the Target store in Valley Stream, N.Y., have already signed cards supporting unionization, and a government-supervised election there on June 17 will be the first time in more than two decades that Target workers will vote on whether to join a union.þþ“A lot of people are going to be shocked that Target workers would consider unionizing because of its very good image and because it’s known as such a fantastic philanthropic organization,” said Burt Flickinger, a retailing consultant who has worked on projects for both the union and Target suppliers.þþThe union decided to focus on Target after employees in Valley Stream, on Long Island, asked for help in unionizing. Echoing longstanding complaints by some Wal-Mart workers, the store’s employees complained that many of them earned too little to support a family or afford health insurance, forcing some to rely on food stamps and Medicaid for their children.þþ“What we want from Target is simply this: we need a living wage where we can get by,” said Sonia Williams, a logistics employee in Valley Stream who said she earns $11.71 an hour, plus a $1-an-hour night differential.þþTarget says its wages are competitive and its employees do not need a union.þþInterviews with 10 of the store’s employees suggest that an important issue behind the unionization drive is frustration about being assigned too few hours of work, sometimes just one or two days a week.þþRetailers are increasingly assigning such short workweeks as they seek to build an extensive roster of workers to fill their ever-changing scheduling needs. But some Target workers say that means they are offered too few hours to qualify for the company’s health plan.þþMs. Williams, who receives $200 a month in food stamps to help her and her 18-year-old son, complained that she was often assigned just three days of work each week, down from full time when she started nearly nine years ago.þþSo far, the union’s organizing efforts have not turned belligerent as it hopes to convince Target employees that it wants to work with the company, not hurt it. In contrast, the union has never been shy about attacking Wal-Mart — hurling invective, organizing protests and lobbying officials to block the retailer’s plans to expand in New York, Chicago and other cities unless it agrees to improve wages and benefits.þþUnion officials assert that Target’s wages and benefits are only slightly better than Wal-Mart’s.þþJim Rowader, Target’s vice president for employee and labor relations, said the company provided “great benefits, flexible scheduling and great career opportunities for workers in all stages of life.”þþHe said Target emphasized building trust between managers and employees. “When you talk about bringing a union into that mix, certainly based on the culture we have and the one we’re trying to build, we don’t think a union or any third party will improve on anything,” he said.þþNone of Target’s 1,755 stores in the United States are unionized, nor are any of Wal-Mart’s 4,420 American stores. The union has tried over the last decade to unionize Wal-Marts in Minnesota and Las Vegas and a Target in Minnesota, but fierce antiunion campaigns by the retailers deflated the efforts before they even came to a vote.þþMr. Flickinger said unions had been loath to undertake large-scale organizing drives against retailers, like the new one against Target in New York, because of obstacles like high employee turnover, the fear of some workers that they would be fired for supporting a union and the aggressive opposition by many companies toward unionization.þþBut Mr. Flickinger said the recession and retailers’ increasing use of part-time workers had improved the climate for organizing even though union membership had been sliding and unions were on the defensive nationwide. “Unions feel it might be the best of times for organizing in retail because many workers can’t afford the health benefits and many can’t even afford to shop in the stores where they work,” he said.þþþPatrick J. O’Neill, the union’s organizing director, said it was vital to try to unionize big-box stores. “Retail is a major employer in our economy,” he said. “If we don’t want the middle class to go away, we’ve got to do something about improving the wages and benefits for retail workers.”þþAbout 12 percent of all American workers are unionized, but just 4.7 percent of retail workers are in unions. Kroger is the retailer with the most unionized workers: 200,000.þþWhile the organizing drive is going full tilt in Valley Stream, the United Food and Commercial Workers has just started reaching out to employees at the other New York-area Targets. It is distributing fliers, asking workers to sign pro-union cards, and lining up support from community groups.þþTashawna Green, a stock clerk in Valley Stream, said a union was needed to help increase her pay, $8 an hour after one year there, and her hours, often six to 17 hours a week.þþ“I just feel that a union is going to help us,” she said. “If they ask for better hours, they get better hours. If they ask for respect, they get respect.”þþLike many of her co-workers, Ms. Green, 21, a native of Jamaica, hails from the Caribbean, where unions are generally more popular than in the United States.þþMs. Green, the mother of a 5-year-old, said she would like to work four or five days a week, but is often assigned two days and then earns just $120 for the week. “It’s very hard to support yourself on that,” she said. “Sometimes I have to borrow money from people. I’m lucky that I’m able to stay with an aunt who understands. I try my best to pay her rent of $200 a month.”þþMs. Green said it was maddening that although many employees were desperate to work more hours, managers ask them whether they have any friends who are looking for jobs. Several workers said they were perplexed that the store hired 13 new workers in recent weeks.þþTarget defended its compensation and scheduling practices.þþ“The wages and benefits provided at the store are at or, frankly, above the market for comparable retail jobs, union or nonunion,” Mr. Rowader said. He said the store’s overall payroll hours had not declined, although individuals might be working fewer hours.þþIn campaigning against the union, Target is also distributing fliers. One says: “Like any other failing business the union needs to increase revenue to stay in business. Taking dues from new members is the only way for them to get more money.”þþBetsy Wilson, who earns $10.50 an hour after working in Valley Stream for two years erecting merchandise displays, opposes having a union — and the dues payments that would come along with one. “Basically if you do your job, you won’t have any problems,” she said.þþJohn Budd, a professor of human resources at the University of Minnesota, said the public’s ambivalence about unions could play a big role in the outcome of the Target unionization effort.þþThe workers’ call for higher wages may win little support, he said. “But the public may be much more sympathetic when someone is working just 10 hours a week and is asking for more hours.”þ
Source: NY Times
