Ben & Jerry’s workers in flagship Vermont store file for union election

The move adds to a string of service industry union drives, including at Starbucks and Trader Joe’s.

Workers at the Burlington store have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for an election. Their organization, dubbed “Scoopers United,” has the backing of the same union that launched Starbucks’ fast-growing organizing campaign, according to a release from the group.

That union, Workers United, has won union elections at hundreds of Starbucks locations across the country at a rapid pace.

If the Burlington workers approve a unionization vote, their store would be the first Ben & Jerry’s location in the U.S. to do so.

A Ben & Jerry’s spokesperson told CNBC the company welcomes the steps taken by Burlington workers.

“For almost 45 years, we’ve sought to center the principles of justice and equity at the heart of our business model,” the spokesperson said. “That’s why we recognize and support the rights of all workers to unionize and collectively bargain.”

In its decades long history, the company has become well known for putting its weight behind social justice causes, which became particularly notable amid the George Floyd protests of 2020.

Ben & Jerry’s has even sued its parent company, Unilever, when its actions came into conflict with Ben & Jerry’s stated social mission.

A unionization push will put Ben & Jerry’s corporate ideals to the test, according to Scoopers United.

“Collectively, we have come to embody Ben and Jerry’s slogan of ‘peace, love, and ice cream,’” the group wrote.

The workers have asked Ben & Jerry’s to sign a code of conduct that would hold the company to respecting workers’ right to organize, while refraining from union-busting.

The Ben & Jerry’s spokesperson said that Burlington workers and the company at large “share the goal of advancing justice, both inside and outside our company.”

In 1998, the company challenged a unionization attempt made by maintenance workers in its Vermont plant, arguing the union vote should be held among all plant workers.