Workers at Tony’s Fresh Market, the Chicago grocery chain sold to private equity three years ago, voted overwhelmingly against forming a union this week.
Workers at 21 Tony’s locations throughout the city and suburbs cast their votes in grocery store break rooms and pricing offices Tuesday through Thursday. When the ballots were counted Friday, the workers had voted 1,115-605 against unionization, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Voter turnout was about 94%.
The vote is a crushing loss for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 881, the grocery workers’ union that had sought to represent the Tony’s employees. The union already represents thousands of Jewel-Osco and Mariano’s workers throughout the Chicago area. In the lead-up to the election, the union accused Tony’s of using illegal anti-union tactics to discourage “yes” votes, which the company denies…