Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream brand owned by Unilever Plc, said it agreed to terms for a unionization process proposed by workers at its flagship store in Burlington, Vermont.
(Bloomberg) — Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream brand owned by Unilever Plc, said it agreed to terms for a unionization process proposed by workers at its flagship store in Burlington, Vermont.
The union, Workers United, proposed principles that go well beyond what is required by US labor law, including commitments that the company would not disparage the union or hold mandatory anti-union meetings without giving the union equal time to respond. The principles also included eschewing “implicit threats” that would be “lawful but unethical.”
“This should be regarded as a step in solidarity in the spirit of constant improvement towards a fair, inclusive, and equitable workplace,” the company said on Friday in a statement.
The principles do not guarantee unionization, but specify that the company will either recognize the union once a majority of workers are determined to have signed up, or cooperate with scheduling an election as quickly as possible.
Workers United is the union behind the organizing campaign at Starbucks Corp., where workers have proposed similar principles, but no agreements with the company have been reached.
When a majority of employees at a work site sign up to unionize in the US, a company can either voluntarily recognize and negotiate with the labor group or refuse to do so unless the union first prevails in a government-run election. The process of determining who should be eligible to vote in an election can take weeks or months, and companies often use that time to deploy tactics such as mandatory anti-union meetings. Unions frequently urge companies, especially those with progressive reputations, to instead agree to ease and expedite the unionization process.
US efforts to unionize have dominated headlines in recent years as labor groups make inroads at companies such as Starbucks, Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. Even so, union membership across the country dropped to a record low last year, and none of those firms has yet reached a collective bargaining agreement, showing the uphill struggle faced by unionizers.
–With assistance from Deena Shanker.
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