The prolonged negotiations that averted a strike against Southern California’s three largest grocery chains last month may have distracted the union’s plans to represent additional workers, but the United Food & Commercial Workers is still interested in the Fresh & Easy chain.
That much was underscored last week when the National Labor Relations Board ruled that the manager of a Fresh & Easy in Los Angeles County violated federal labor law during a UFCW organizing campaign in 2010. A federal judge said the manager gave employees the impression their activities regarding union interest were under surveillance.
The administrative law judge also ruled that the store management illegally maintained a rule that prevented employees from discussing the UFCW organizing campaign while on the job, despite the fact that workers stocking shelves or helping bag groceries were allowed to talk among themselves about other matters.
Fresh & Easy managers had also been chastised by federal judges following complaints made to the labor board twice within the past year, in Las Vegas and in Spring Valley near San Diego.
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