Emotions have run high in our town lately regarding the issue of unionization at the Brattleboro Food Coop. There has been a lot of talk - in the Co-op boardroom, in the press, on social media sites, on the street - about the efforts of the staff to unionize.
I would like to try to demystify some of the language that has been encountered lately.
Some people have asked, “Won't a union create a divide between workers and management?”
We believe that such a divide has existed at the Co-op for many years. The divide is the result of the hierarchical structure that management has adopted.