Wedge becomes first Twin Cities co-op to form union

Union organizers say that workers at the Wedge Community Co-op in Minneapolis voted to form a union on Monday. The successful unionization drive is a first for a co-op grocery in the Twin Cities, which has more cooperative groceries than any other urban area in the United States.

Monday's vote for the union was 76-31, according to United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189 organizing director Abraham Wangnoo. About 136 workers at the grocery store on Lyndale Avenue were eligible to vote.

"It was really a worker-driven thing," Wangnoo said. "You could just see the excitement in a lot of the people who'd been part of this whole thing."

The results will be certified by the National Labor Relations Board in the coming weeks. Union representatives will be meeting with all workers at the store to come up with a platform and negotiating team for upcoming contract negotiations, Wangnoo said.

Workers started the union drive in December. The co-op's management complied with a neutrality agreement they'd signed with unionized warehouse workers.

Wangnoo said there's still an ongoing union drive at the Wedge Table, a cafe and market on Nicollet Avenue that is also owned by the Wedge.