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A Federal judge has thrown out Trader Joe’s trademark infringement claim against its union, stating the grocer tried to “weaponize the legal system” against its workers.
Trader Joe’s filed the lawsuit in 2023, accusing its workers’ union of selling merchandise that violated company trademarks and claiming the sale of the merchandise could dilute its brand.
Judge Hernán D. Vera argues the lawsuit is far from credible, and even comes “dangerously close to the line of Rule 11,” which allows courts to sanction attorneys that submit pleadings for an improper purpose.
Instead, feeling compelled to address the issue, Vera argues this case is a thinly veiled attack on its unionized workers.
“This action is undoubtedly related to an existing labor dispute,” says Vera. “It strains credulity to believe that the present lawsuit… …would have been filed absent the ongoing organizing efforts that Trader Joe’s employees have mounted (successfully) in multiple locations across the country.”
But this is not the only notable news story of union engagement in 2024.
Where Trader Joe’s took legal action that “undoubtedly” arose out of a labor dispute, Costco made the headlines on 7 January 2024 for its gracious, self-reflective, and supportive statement after employees at a warehouse in Norfolk, Virginia, voted in favor of union representation.
“We’re not disappointed in our employees; we’re disappointed in ourselves as managers and leaders,” wrote Craig Jelinek, CEO, and Ron Vachris, President, in an end-of-year letter to employees. “The fact that a majority of Norfolk employees felt that they wanted or needed a union constitutes a failure on our part.”
The letter explicitly confirms Costco is “not anti-union” and doubles down on its commitment to employees and its “culture of trust, respect, and reliance upon each other.”
Here we have two vastly different approaches to engaging with unions. What can we learn from each?
A tale of two unions
Firstly, it’s important to acknowledge that regardless of the company's response, in each case employees felt compelled to seek greater protection of their rights.
The Trader Joe’s United website states that the company has seen a major decline in the quality of its compensation and culture from an industry outlier in quality to a company with “increasing turnover, declining benefits, and stagnating wages.”
At Costco, the successful vote for union representation has been driven by a push for safety, respect, dialogue with management, and improved grievance procedures. Damion Thomas, organizing committee member and front-end cashier states the campaign was about “taking control over our wellbeing in our workplace.”
Both cases indicate a clear failure of the organization’s leadership and HR function. Neither employer has done enough to creates a two-way dialogue with employees, protect their interests and safety, or manage compensation concerns. The difference lies in the response.
In Trader Joe’s, we have a reaction that can only be described as ‘attack is the best form of defense.’ Threatening Trader Joe’s United with a legal battle is an attempt to exert power over union members.
Defensiveness is natural. For HR professionals and business leaders, unionization does represent a threat to their existing practices.
Given the sheer scale of problems HR and labor relations leaders are trying to solve, it can feel that unions are attacking the quality of the employee experience. Negative feedback is the last thing HR leaders, many of whom are burned out, want to hear.
But Costco’s response and Trader Joe’s unsuccessful claim are proof that the best path forward is not to attempt to avoid unionization by squashing out worker groups. Indeed, a case from Medieval Times against its workers' union was similarly thrown out.
Labor relations is an opportunity, not a threat
Greater transparency, employee experience co-creation, and continuous performance improvement are all growing disciplines within HR.
Costco’s response embodies these models and frameworks that many organizations try to adopt. It’s proof that companies should apply these tenets to labor relations.
Taking ownership of past mistakes, committing to improvement, and seeking an open dialogue with employees to do better are the hallmarks of a healthy company culture.
Conversely, spending time, resources, and energy on directly or indirectly attacking employees through legal action or other tactics undermines the very nature of HR work. It carries a huge emotional cost to the leaders and employees involved. And it gets in the way of meaningful progression.
So, if like Costco Trader Joe’s, you’re facing union disputes or any other form of employee criticism in 2024, be more like Jelinek and Vachris.
Accept your failures, embrace the open dialogue, and use it as an opportunity to create a better future for your organization alongside, not against, your employees.
