Update 1/8/2024: A majority of employees at local food retailer Union Kitchen voted to disband their labor union, according to National Right to Work, an organization which represented the worker who submitted the decertification petition. The vote to remove UFCW Local 400 as the workers’ union representative was 24-1, per the organization.

The employees were “finally able to exercise their right to vote out a union that actively worked against their interests,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said in a statement.

Local 400 has challenged the decertification petition, alleging management interference; the owner has strongly denied these accusations. The NLRB is still looking into unfair labor practice charges Local 400 filed against Union Kitchen last year, according to a letter from NLRB regional director and shared with DCist/WAMU.

“We look forward to the Labor Board completing their investigation of this election and holding this company accountable,” Local 400 says in a statement.

The National Labor Relations Board still needs to certify the election results. A NLRB spokesperson did not immediately respond to request for comment on the election results or Local 400’s unfair labor allegations.

Original: The fate of the labor union at the D.C. food retailer Union Kitchen is uncertain yet again: A group of employees has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to disband their union a little more than a year after a majority of workers voted in favor of it. The NLRB is expected to hold a hearing on the decertification petition and a challenge against it as early as next week.

A Union Kitchen employee named Ashley Silva submitted the petition on behalf of her colleagues across five Union Kitchen stores, according to her legal representation, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. At least 30% of workers in the union must sign onto a decertification petition before filing with the NLRB, and NRWF Vice President Patrick Semmens tells DCist/WAMU nearly 90% of Silva’s colleagues signed her petition requesting another election in order to vote down the union.

An NLRB spokesperson says they cannot confirm how many workers signed the decertification petition. National Right to Work is a conservative organization that opposes organized labor, most notably representing the plaintiffs in the landmark Supreme Court decision that hobbled public unions.

National Right to Work declined to make Silva available for an interview, saying they do not want to compromise her case amid a challenge from Local 400. The spokesperson, instead, provided a written statement on behalf of their client, who voiced frustration over a union-led boycott of stores.

“The vast majority of the workers at Union Kitchen are sick and tired of the UFCW’s picketing, harassment of employees, and constant disruptions of our day-to-day work life,” Silva said through her attorney. “If the union cares at all about what we want, they will respect our wishes and immediately disclaim their interest in representing workers who have overwhelmingly rejected them.”

Because Silva was not available, DCist/WAMU visited two Union Kitchen stores to see how workers feel about the decertification petition. Most workers declined to be interviewed, with one worker saying they feared being fired. A worker who did agree to talk but requested anonymity called the company “amazing.” They’ve worked at the company for three months, and they appreciate the pay and hours, they said. They also didn’t understand the boycott, calling it “stupid” and “bad business.” They said they plan on voting in favor of decertification because they’re happy with their job and no one has explained the purpose of the union.

Union Kitchen workers successfully formed a union in June 2022; the vote was 22 to 11. Since then, contract negotiations have stalled, with both sides claiming that the other is not bargaining in good faith. For the decertification, Semmens says that they are requesting a secret-ballot election. “They had a year. It didn’t work out,” he said of the union. “Things have gotten worse, arguably.”

The union the 49 Union Kitchen workers joined, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400, has already requested that the NLRB dismiss Silva’s petition, alleging she is connected to management and noting that Local 400 has filed new unfair labor practice charges against the employer. The NLRB could discuss the union’s request as early as its hearing on Aug. 2.

The decertification petition marks another blow to the union at Union Kitchen, an organizing effort that’s been fraught since workers announced their union drive in January 2022. Union Kitchen and Local 400 reached a NLRB settlement agreement over unfair labor practices in February, in which the employer agreed to pay nearly $25,000 in backpay to five workers who were fired or disciplined, apparently in retaliation for their participation in the union drive. 

Eight days after Silva filed her petition, Local 400 asked NLRB to dismiss her case, arguing she was hired five months ago to be a manager and is an agent of management. Local 400 staff organizer Travis Acton also alleges she and her husband, a Union Kitchen manager but in another department, intimidated workers into signing the decertification petition.

Union Kitchen founder and CEO Gilchrist says Silva is a supervisor, a position he and the union agreed to be part of the bargaining unit. He called the allegations against Silva and her husband “unfounded.”

“It’s incredible they have gotten down to personally attacking workers and trying to drag them through the mud; the same mud they’ve dragged me through,” he says in an email to DCist/WAMU. “This is disgusting behavior by an enormous organization and the individuals at UFCW doing it. They should be ashamed.”

Decertification is a process that can officially start one year after union certification, which is why Acton says Local 400 is not surprised by the petition. The union believes decertification is premature, though Acton admits he doesn’t know how many workers in the unit still favor a union, given that many of the bargaining unit leaders who worked in the stores no longer work for Union Kitchen. Local 400 says some of the vocal pro-union workers were fired — which was the subject of the settlement agreement — resulting in a “chilling effect,” as a union spokesperson said in February.

Acton says it’s one thing for workers to disapprove of their union after they failed to get a contract that reflects the workers’ wishes, but says Union Kitchen’s actions thus far have not afforded the union a viable chance.

Gilchrist says Union Kitchen has been negotiating in good faith. “We call on the UFCW to stop their boycott, negotiate in good faith with Union Kitchen, which they are not, and respect our workers right to decertify,” Gilchrist said via email. “We will keep working in good faith with UFCW, our employees and our customers.”

Most unions do not vote to decertify. In 2022, 311 decertification petitions were filed, according to NLRB data, with 137 going to an election and 93 being lost by the union. That same year, over 1,300 union elections were held and workers voted to unionize in the majority of elections.