Wedge Co-op workers to vote on union

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/11/16/wedge-union-vote

Jon Collins Nov 16, 2015

Founded more than four decades ago out of the social and political ferment of the early 1970s, workers at the Wedge Community Co-op vote today on whether to become the first of the state's many co-op grocery stores to unionize.

The union drive launched in December and will include about 136 employees at the Wedge's location on Lyndale Avenue. The National Labor Relations Board is overseeing voting during two separate sessions today.

Rebecca Pollak, assistant grocery buyer at the Wedge and a union supporter, stayed late at work Wednesday afternoon because she was helping a customer parse his options for low-sodium tamari alternatives. She loves the quirky facets of her job at the Wedge, and interacting with neighbors, but said employees no longer have much voice.

"Employees are banned from running for the board," Pollak said. "I do think there's a lack of employee representation at a decision-making level at the Wedge, and that's not out of intent, it's just because there's not a structure for it, and [the union] would create a structure."

FULL story at link.