Workers at the Lowe's Home Improvement store on Elysian Fields Avenue have notified federal labor regulators of their intent to form a union, the latest local union drive in a wave of national organizing efforts at chain outlets including Lowe's, Home Depot, Starbucks and Amazon.
Managers at the New Orleans store were informed on Wednesday by union organizers that the petition had garnered the minimum 30% of signatures required from the 172 workers there, according to organizers and Lowe's representatives.
The National Labor Relations Board, which is responsible for implementing federal labor law, will now investigate whether all other conditions are met and then try to broker terms for a vote by the full workforce over whether or not to unionize.
Part of a wave
The Lowe's union drive follows efforts around the state in recent months by workers at retailers and other chains to organize.
A Lowe's Home Improvement store on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018. (Kurt Bresswein, lehighvalleylive.com)
In June, Starbucks workers at the Maple Street outlet Uptown voted to form a union after filing their petition in April. That vote came amid allegations made by the workers of intimidation tactics by Starbucks, including the firing of the employee who organized the effort.
Earlier this month, workers at a Walmart Supercenter in Baton Rouge filed an NLRB petition seeking to hold a vote.
Long time coming
Felix Allen, who works on the merchandizing team at the Lowe's store and organized the petition, said Thursday that he had received "overwhelming support" from the 172 workers at the Elysian Fields outlet. He declined to offer a precise count and wouldn't say if they were affiliated with any national union.
Allen said the unionizing effort is a response to pay that is failing to keep up with rising costs as well as the working conditions at the store.
He said employees are stretched too thin and often have to deal with abuse from frustrated customers. Workers have also had only minimal wage increases, even if they've been employed at the store for many years, he said.
"This has been a long time coming," Allen said. "Some of the issues that we have are not unique to this store: anyone who has worked at a Walmart, Home Depot, Amazon, Starbucks, they're all facing the same issues."
There are no specific demands for wages and conditions at this point, but Allen said: "There are a lot of folks who have issues with pay, some who have been here over a decade are still making less than $15 an hour."
Lowe's lawyer, Mark Keenan at Barnes & Thornburg in Atlanta, said Lowe's had only just received notice of the union vote and didn't have an immediate comment.
A spokesman for Lowe's in Mooresville, North Carolina, said in an emailed statement: "We received a copy of the petition filed with the NLRB and have begun working through this process. Lowe’s is committed to having a positive working environment and empowers associates to communicate directly with leadership. We value this relationship, and we do not believe that unionizing is in the best interests of our associates."
Breakthrough at Amazon
The petition for the vote at the Lowe's Elysian Fields store is the second at a Lowe's in the U.S. this year, according to NLRB data. The other, which is still outstanding, was for Lowe's store in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
There have been several attempts to unionize at Lowe's stores over the last five years; none have been successful.
The unionization effort at Starbucks, by contrast, has resulted in nearly 250 stores so far voting to form a union since efforts began at the end of 2021 in Buffalo, New York.
This story has been updated to include a statement from Lowe's.