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Article

11 Nov 2021

Author:
Michael Sainato, The Guardian

USA: HelloFresh workers allege they face retaliation & bullying from management for attempting to unionise

"‘Workers are very afraid’: HelloFresh employees aim to unionize amid claims of abuse", 11 November 2021

Workers at HelloFresh...say they are facing an aggressive anti-union campaign led by the company after they tried to organize amid claims of safety issues and poor treatment of workers...

At the Richmond, California facility, the union Unite Here Local 2850 has filed several unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against HelloFresh, alleging the company has retaliated, intimidated, and bullied union supporting workers over the last several months.

Evelin Escobar, a production worker... alleged two HelloFresh security guards approached her and requested she turn in her employee badge to them, claiming she was distributing pro-union leaflets in the workplace during work hours, after she and other co-workers handed out leaflets during their lunch break outside the facility...

Escobar said the union campaign was started in response to safety issues, treatment of workers by management, and working conditions...

Some 386 workers at the Aurora, Colorado, facility are currently casting ballots by mail...

Around 850 workers in Richmond are scheduled to receive ballots by 18 November...

Ahead of their union election, HelloFresh workers have claimed management retaliated against them for engaging in union activity.

Shortly after Denis Guzman and Aindra Hernandez, two workers in the quality assurance department at HelloFresh, were distributing union leaflets outside during their lunch break, the workers were approached by managers and told they were not permitted to do so.

Later the same day, Guzman was brought into an office room with other managers who informed him he was being demoted from quality assurance back to production...

Workers at HelloFresh said they were also consistently forced into meetings during work hours with paid union avoidance consultants from Kulture Consulting. The company is spending thousands of dollars a day for the consultants to try to dissuade workers from voting in favor of the union...

A spokesperson for HelloFresh said... “HelloFresh believes that the decision of whether or not to be represented by a union is an important one and we respect each employee’s right to choose or refuse union membership.” They did not provide information on how much the company is spending on union avoidance consultants.

In regards to the National Labor Relations Board charges, the spokesperson added; “We take these allegations very seriously, and all such complaints are vigorously investigated and addressed. We have comprehensive anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and training programs, and numerous avenues for employees to raise concerns, including a 24/7 hotline for employees to report complaints anonymously. We look forward to refuting these charges with the NLRB, however because this is an ongoing investigation....”

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