Philadelphia Home Depot workers file petition to unionize, first time in the US

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Philadelphia Home Depot workers file petition to unionize, first time in the US

According to records on the National Labor Relations Board NLRB website, home depot workers in Philadelphia filed a petition Monday to unionize.

The petition seeking to create a union for 274 workers at a Home Depot store in Philadelphia is the subject of the NLRB case webpage. According to the unit description on the NLRB website, the collective bargaining unit would cover merchandising, specialty and operations associates.

The unit description also said that MET associates, loss prevention, and all other employees are excluded.

The petitioner is listed as Home Depot Workers United. If successful, it could be the first storewide union for Home Depot.

Some media outlets have identified Philadelphia Home Depot employee Vincent Quiles as an organizer. He told The Philadelphia Inquirer that working conditions, staffing and pay are the top concerns for store employees who want to unionize.

FOX Business reached out to Quiles via LinkedIn.

Sara Gorman, Home Depot spokesperson told FOX Business on Wednesday that the home improvement company is aware of the petition filed with the NLRB and looks forward to talking to our associates about their concerns.

She said that our open-door policy is designed to assure all associates that they can bring concerns directly to leadership, and that we have a track record of working with our associates to resolve concerns. We do not believe that unionization is the best solution for our associates, as we will work through the NLRB process. Sixty San Diego-based Home Depot drivers joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 287 in 2019 according to a press release from the Teamsters.

Other companies have been seeing unionization efforts among their workers. Employees at over 230 Starbucks locations in the U.S. have voted to unionize since late 2021. At the end of August, Chipotle Mexican Grill workers in a Lansing, Michigan restaurant voted to join the Teamsters, marking the first instance for the restaurant chain.