‘It can be scary’: how corporate America is hitting back against unions

Employers are using heavy-handed tactics to prevent workers from organizing, and US labor union density is falling as a result

Workers at a Trader Joe's store in Louisville, Kentucky, are now pushing to become the third store at the trendy US supermarket chain to unionize since 2022.

Connor Hovey, a worker and organizer at the Louisville store, said unionizing efforts began as other high-profile union organizing efforts such as at Louisville's Heine Brothers, a local coffee shop chain, were taking off. Like those workers, the Trader Joe's organizers sought to address issues stemming from inadequate corporate policies and safety precautions, and how workers have been treated during the Covid-19 pandemic.