Mrs. Green’s accused of anti-union actions

Shoppers this month at Mrs. Green”™s Natural Market in Mount Kisco were met by pickets in front of the store calling for a boycott of the market. Some of the protesters might have been familiar to regular customers of the market ”“ they were longtime employees of the grocery chain that had recently been fired.

The market fired nine employees in January for poor customer service, according to protest organizers, although a local labor group said the firings were part of a union-busting effort by the store”™s owners. The store had previously been accused of unfair labor practices by employees who were trying to unionize.

Westchester County Legislator Peter Harckham, a North Salem Democrat, said on his Facebook page he had joined a rally outside of the Mount Kisco Mrs. Green”™s, one of about 20 locations in the U.S. and Canada focused on organic and sustainable products.

“I call on all fair-minded people in Westchester to boycott all Mrs. Green”™s locations in Westchester until they hire back the fired workers, and respect their workers lawful right to organize,” Harckham said.

So far, representatives of Mrs. Green”™s have yet to speak specifically on the matter, but Local 1500 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said it has filed federal charges with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of the fired workers.

“Mrs. Green”™s mission statement says they are ”˜dedicated to health sustainability,”™” Harckham said, “yet they have a double standard when it comes to their workers”™ right to earn a sustainable wage and collectively bargain.”

Mrs. Green”™s opened in 1990, started in Briarcliff Manor by Harold and June Hochberger. It grew to 11 locations by 2007 when it was bought by Planet Organic Corp., a Canadian company and owner of several supermarket chains looking to break into the U.S. organic market. Planet declared bankruptcy in 2010, according to a November 2013 Chicago Tribune report on Mrs. Green”™s expansion into the Midwest. After the bankruptcy, Planet was acquired by a private equity group called Catalyst Capital Group, the Tribune said.

Tony Speelman, secretary-treasurer of Local 1500, said in a blog posting that new management took over at the Mount Kisco location in December 2012, after a former manager had been fired. Speelman wrote that employees filed for a union election in May, but lost by three votes. Accusations were flung that ownership had illegally met with employees prior to the vote.

Charges were filed with the labor board and employees met with local elected officials and state Assemblywoman Sandy Galef about their treatment, Speelman said. In a settlement last November, Mrs. Green”™s agreed to post for 60 days a notice of employees”™ federal labor rights. During that posting period, according to protest organizers, the nine employees were fired.

“The fired workers were not only leading supporters of the union in the election, but were the same workers who met with politicians in the Mount Kisco area for help,” Speelman wrote in his blog posting.

Local 1500, which represents workers at Pathmark, D”™Agostino”™s, Fairway, and Stop and Shop grocery stores, said it will continue to rally its membership in picket lines outside of the store until the fired workers are reinstated. Several of the fired workers had been on the job for several years, with three of the ousted workers having spent more than 10 years each at the company.