A Lush Cosmetics store in Louisville has unanimously voted to unionize, becoming the first store to do so in the United States. The store is a win for United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 227, which helped organize the effort. The vote was 6-0.
Despite the few workers involved here, apparently there was a vicious effort by Lush to contest the eligibility of one of the workers at the store and to push her out. Louisville Public Media reports that Chelsea Cook, a leader in the store's unionization effort, had her ballot challenged and not counted in the election.1 Cook alleges she was "forced [...] to stop working on Sunday – just days before the union vote" despite planning to leave the store in May. She is apparently still being paid, but has been told she cannot continue to work in the store.
Cook says that she and her fellow employees began to organize with UFCW Local 227 after Lush announced in February that workers would not receive a raise. Instead of accepting the status quo, they would fight for a living wage from Lush–and with the union effort now successful, they're one step closer to attaining that goal.
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Obviously, had Cook's vote been counted, she would have made it 7-0.