New York CNN store —
Workers at a Home Depot in Philadelphia voted overwhelmingly not to become the chain’s first store represented by a union.
The National Labor Relations Board, which oversees union elections, reported that only 51 workers voted to join Home Depot Workers United and 165 voted against.
The store at 4640 Roosevelt Blvd. in Philadelphia, has around 275 employees.
Vincent Quile, the group’s lead organizer, told CNN at the time the union moved for the election that he was inspired by successful union representation votes at an Amazon distribution center in Staten Island, New York, the union’s first win in online retail became giant and more than 200 successful voices at various Starbucks locations across the country.
But union organizing campaigns are difficult. Since winning the vote at the Staten Island facility, the Amazon Union has lost votes at two other distribution centers, one in Staten Island and one near Albany, New York, and withdrew a petition to hold a vote at one location in California.
And although election organizing has increased by 58% so far this year, unions have lost about 31% of the vote through September, the latest figure available from the NLRB. That means workers in 344 companies have voted against joining a union.
That’s still a better percentage of union organizer gains compared to some previous years. In the first nine months of 2021, unions won just 46% of the organizing votes held.
Home Depot (HD) has approximately 2,000 US stores and 437,000 employees.