Episode 91: Why HelloFresh Workers Want A Union
The Checkout presents this special two part interview regarding the safety issues and union drives at HelloFresh.
“The workplace has become very disorganized and chaotic.”
The Checkout speaks with Jessica Choy, the Campaign Director for UNITE HERE and John Youngston, a rank and file shipping clerk at HelloFresh. Our guests explain the situation at HelloFresh facilities and why workers are so interested in becoming union members.
From UNITE HERE:
Workers at HelloFresh have alerted government agencies and are calling for investigations of higher-than-average injury rates at America’s #1 meal kit company’s Richmond CA and Aurora CO factories.
The incidence rate of OSHA recordable injuries and illnesses at HelloFresh’s Richmond, CA factory in 2020 was 12.96 per 100 workers, which is 3.24 times the rate for the transportation and warehousing industry and 1.8 times the rate for perishable prepared food manufacturing. It's also 4.8 times the incidence rate for private industry as a whole. OSHA logs for HelloFresh’s factory in Aurora, CO reveal a 2020 injury and illness rate of 5.72 incidents per 100 workers.
Injuries that HelloFresh workers at these locations suffered since 2020 included “crushing of multiple upper extremities,” “head, laceration, struck by failing object,” and “foot punctured by nail.” Workers have since communicated with OSHA to detail additional alleged occupational hazards including: “working and walking areas cluttered with tripping hazards,” “risk of injury from falling objects,” and “risk of injury from lifting heavy items and repetitive motions.”
Approx. 400 meal kit workers at HelloFresh’s facility in Aurora began voting on October 28 on whether to join UNITE HERE, and another 770 workers in Richmond will begin voting on the same question on November 18. If successful, they will form the booming meal kit industry’s first-ever union.
UNITE HERE is the hospitality workers’ union in the U.S. and Canada, representing over 300,000 workers in restaurants and food service, hotels, gaming, airports, and more.
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Episode #90 Notes
Jessica Choy, Campaign Director of UNITE HERE
1:00 - What is UNITE HERE? And why is UNITE HERE organizing against Hello Fresh?
4:15 - What was it like working in a HelloFresh facility during COVID-19?
8:45 - What spurred this campaign at HelloFresh?
10:30 - What are workers hoping to achieve through organizing at HelloFresh?
12:00 - Where do you see the labor movement going in the US?
14:00 - Why would you encourage someone to organize?
John Youngston, Shipping Department at HelloFresh
18:45 - Tell us about what you do at HelloFresh.
19:30 - What’s it been like working at HelloFresh during COVID-19?
21:00 - What got you interested in forming a union at HelloFresh?
22:15 - What are the benefits of forming a union?
23:15 - Why is there so much labor unrest in the last few months in the food industry?
25:15 - How has HelloFresh reacted to the labor organizing efforts?
26:15 - What should we know about how we should improve the food system?
28:00 - How can we support your campaign?
