I was pretty beat yesterday on account of doing all the observing stuff and also working a shift in between and then I had to hit the hay early to work another shift today so I haven't really had a chance to do a big boy post until now, thank you very much for all the congratulations! Below the cut is what all went down yesterday, for folks who are interested in hearing about all that.
So the way our vote was setup there were two separate voting periods, both at the store, one from 8AM-10AM, and then another from 4PM-6PM. Getting the vote split into two windows was nice because it accommodated everyone's different schedules, but it also means the folks that were opening also had to basically close the store at 8, and then I had to open the store again at 10 and close it at 3:30, and stores really aren't designed to operate like that! We wanted to hold the election at the nearby learning center but the company refuses to give up the leverage gained from having the election held in an area they own and we were more concerned with having a vote soon rather than waiting for perfect conditions. Against our wishes, our District Manager was present on the premises, but sequestered in the back of house area where they would be unable to surveil or influence any voters, and I didn't witness or hear about any improper behavior from them during the non-voter hours, mostly because I think they are smart enough tor realize that this is one of the few days they absolutely will get in trouble for doing that kind of thing.
The observing part was actually pretty chill! The NLRB rep and their apprentice were super nice and fun to talk with, which was really nice because honestly, four hours for a voting unit of nineteen people guarantees a good amount of downtime. We got to talk a lot about our respective jobs, and I gotta say they really made working for the NLRB itself sound super-cool, just going out into the field and investigating workplaces and protecting workers, while getting to interact and learn about all sorts of different folks. Alas, it basically requires a master's degree and I'm not really a master's degree kind of guy, but maybe in another life. One thing that I thought was neat was that they mentioned how they often work with lawyers on both sides of labor and business, and how individuals representing the two often end up being amicable to each other because of the sheer time spent interacting with one another during bargaining processes.
We got 100% turnout, which is honestly the thing I'm the most happy about outside of the win itself, because one thing our company has been trying to push is that it's a vocal minority within stores basically stealing wins out from under stores that would otherwise be apathetic, and it's nice to be able to definitively say that is not true in our case. But when the votes needed to be counted is when things got a little hairy - I guess the lawyer representing the company skipped the part of training where they develop a personal-professional relationship with their counterpart across the aisle, because they were visibly frustrated by our lawyer and seemed to take everything personally, and honestly I was typing up everything they were doing and realized I am just gonna have to do a whole separate post just on their behavior because honestly it's fascinating to me and I want to try and figure out what's going on there.
I could feel my heart pounding in my chest when it came time to count the votes, my exhaustion from work and nerves fading away as yes after yes was recorded, with one (expected) no and not a single one more than that. I just kept nodding with every yes ballot, vaguely aware that our lawyer was already patting me on the back and saying "that's some good organizing there", I didn't want to even blink for fear that somehow taking my eyes off the piles would change the outcome. Before I knew it I was outside, celebrating with my coworkers, my partner filming with his phone while a professional photographer's shutter clicked away. I had some time to speak with my coworkers and hug Dos before a reporter came over to speak with me, and by that point I was just on pure manic energy and all my preparation seemed impossible to recall, I just kind of rambled off everything that came to mind and I can only hope it came off much more coherent than I felt at the time. There was a celebration planned at Dave & Buster's afterwards but I was already starting to feel myself crash standing out there in the cold so Dos and I took our leave and walked home together, and as luck would have it there was a food truck parked at the nearby bougie apartments so we still got to celebrate in our own small way.
It feels nice to have won, although in my head I know that this win is just the first step for us in a long negotiation battle, and a small step within the overall movement. Aside from preparing for our own negotiations, I'm also trying to think about how to start reaching out to other stores in our district and stores I've worked at before to see what I can do to get them started on their own paths. There is no shortage of work to be done, but I believe together we will fight and win a better future for us all.
