Rite Aid Workers Win Big Victory from NLRB

Rite Aid workers rallied for an end to anti-union actions last June at the company’s shareholder meeting.

Robert Masciola in the AFL-CIO Organizing Department writes about a victory in the three-year struggle by Rite Aid workers to join a union.

In March 2008, nearly 700 workers at Rite Aid’s distribution center in Lancaster, Calif., overcame a vicious two-year anti-union campaign to gain a voice on the job by voting for International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 26.  

The workers sought union representation to put an end to punishing production quotas and mandatory overtime piled on top of 10-hour shifts. They work in hot desert summers with no air conditioning in their work areas, with no job security.

As we enter the fall of 2009, workers are still fighting hard to win a first contract. But it has been hard given the employers’ conduct.

However, in a nod to justice, Region 31 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a complaint against Rite Aid based on its actions, which include:

• Laying off 60 employees in November 2008.
• Reducing the hours of 29 part-time employees by half during a four-week period.
• Sending bargaining-unit employees home at the conclusion of their shifts on various days during a six-month period.
• Failing and refusing to respond to an information request in a timely manner.

By engaging in these actions, the NLRB claims Rite Aid refused to bargain in good faith with its Lancaster workforce, as required by federal labor law.

“This is a real victory for workers in the warehouse,” said Carlos “Chico” Rubio, a worker at the Lancaster distribution center. 

We have been bargaining in good faith with Rite Aid, but when they engage in conduct like this it makes us think they’re not really interested in reaching a fair settlement. 

This is not the first time the company has run into trouble with the NLRB. In January 2007, the company fired a worker for his support of the union, but rehired him six months later as part of a settlement with the NLRB. The Labor Board also charged Rite Aid with 49 other federal labor law violations, including disciplining, demoting, suspending and firing union supporters; threatening that people would lose their raises if they voted for the union; and publicly disparaging union supporters. The company settled in May 2007 rather than go before an NLRB judge.

The Rite Aid workers’ battle demonstrates why the Employee Free Choice Act is needed. If passed, the legislation would level the playing field and enable workers to decide for themselves how to choose a union.

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