The federal labor board has scheduled a November vote on a petition from Home Depot workers in Philadelphia to form what could be the first storewide union at the world’s largest home improvement retailer. The Atlanta-based company employs about 500,000 people at its 2,316 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The National Labor Relations Board said Wednesday the vote will take place Nov. 2 at the Philadelphia store, and the count will take place three days later.
Vincent Quiles, the Home Depot employee leading the unionization effort, submitted a petition last month with 103 workers’ signatures to form a collective bargaining unit for employees working in the store’s merchandizing, specialty and operations departments. The original petition said the union would represent 274 workers, but Quiles said the number is now 266 after a recount and some talks with Home Depot over which workers to include.
Quiles said he expects the vote will be a toss up. There’s a generational divide between younger workers who are generally more enthusiastic about the idea of a union and more wary older employees, he said. Discontent with compensation, working conditions and understaffing are the main grievances behind the effort, he said.
