Union vote set for Valley Stream Target

Target workers at a Valley Stream store will vote next month on whether to unionize, the first such election for the company since the 1990s and the first ever for any of Long Island's Target stores.

Target Corp. and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 settled a dispute about which workers can take part in the secret ballot vote. About 260 workers at the Valley Stream store will be eligible to participate in the election on June 17, according to the National Labor Relations Board. The last such election took place at a Detroit location and failed to unionize employees in the 1990s, the company said.

Local 1500 officials hadn't intended to mount a campaign to organize Target workers, but in this case the employees came to them for help, said Pat Purcell, Local 1500 spokesman. And now the union is hoping the efforts at the Valley Stream store will build a movement in the area.

"These people don't hate their company, they respect their company, but they don't feel the company is respectful of them to where they are sharing in the growth," Purcell said.

Target, however, said in a statement that the company emphasizes creating an "environment that promotes listening, responding to concerns of team members and always giving honest feedback."

"We want to continue to create the kind of workplace where team members don't want or need union representation to resolve issues," the company said.

Tashawna Green, a Target worker for the past year and a single mother of a 5-year-old daughter, said she was happy to hear about the June vote. She said that concerns she and her co-workers have raised were not being addressed.

"We decided in order for us to be heard, we need a union, otherwise they are not listening," said Green, 21, of Queens Village. Among the main issues that workers hope a union contract will address are improving pay and guaranteeing the number of hours they work each week.

Valley Stream Target workers have told the union that the raises they are offered amount to 8 or 9 cents an hour, Purcell said.

Workers there also have been concerned about securing some guarantee of the number of hours they work a week, the union said. Sometimes full-time workers are not scheduled 40 hours a week, both Green and the union said.

"The hours that we're getting basically cannot support us," Green said.

The company disputes these claims, saying it places a priority on ensuring its "compensation and benefits align with or exceed the retail and other service industry companies in that specific market." Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder also said the company's month-to-month analysis shows there has been no reduction in hours or payroll at the Valley Stream store over the last 12 months.

"Team members establish the hours they are available to work, and based on their availability, Target then customizes a weekly schedule," the company said.

Local 1500 has released an ad on YouTube criticizing Target, and Purcell said the union plans to run the ad in Times Square.