By Nathan Duke
Elected officials at the city and federal level had called on federal immigration officials last week to halt their audit of Fresh Direct, an online grocer located on Borden Avenue that delivers to the five boroughs, after nearly 100 warehouse workers walked off the job in early December. Teamsters Local 805 President Sandy Pope said she believes Fresh Direct initiated the audit to prevent a union drive at the company.”Fresh Direct pulled out all the stops to keep a union out and through intimidation, fear and heartless treatment of its workers the company succeeded,” she said. “What the company has done is despicable, but we ask now for Fresh Direct to stop their union-busting and to pledge that they will not retaliate against any worker who was brave enough to stand up for a union.”Only about 500 of the 900 warehouse workers at Fresh Direct were able to vote last week on whether to unionize with Local 805 because of the walkout, Pope said. The workers voted 426-73 against affiliating with the union, she said. Only 31 workers voted to join another union, the United Food & Commercial Workers, Pope said.Fresh Direct spokesman Jim Moore said the company recognizes employees' rights to unionize.”By a wide margin, the employees of Fresh Direct's plant operations voted against joining a union,” he said. “With the vote behind us and our employees' decision clear, we are looking forward to focusing on the busy holiday season and on the months and years ahead.”The warehouse workers had walked out or were suspended last month after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began auditing the company because many of the workers could not fill out paperwork for the investigation, Pope said.An ICE spokesman said the agency could neither confirm nor deny any audit. Local 805 had accused ICE of breaking its own internal policies by conducting an audit in the midst of a union drive, but an immigration spokeswoman said the agency's policy would not prevent it from investigating a company if the department suspected irregular activity.Many of the workers who walked out have not yet been able to pick up their final paychecks, so local elected officials and clergy members are acting as intermediaries.Pope said warehouse employees at the company often work 13-hour shifts in cold conditions for $7.50 to $9.75 per hour, while most unionized warehouse workers earn between $10 to $20 an hour. She said the workers should be allowed to unionize without being hassled.”Those employees who choose to continue to organize and seek to bring a union to Fresh Direct should be able to do so without the relentless campaign of lies and scare tactics that workers have had to deal with from the company,” she said.Fresh Direct's delivery drivers are unionized.Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
