Ep 24: Trader Joe’s United with Jamie Edwards and Maeg Yosef

Trippin’ on the Shoestring cohosts Shelby Lee and Dusty Christensen bring you a dispatch from one of the most important labor struggles happening in western Massachusetts and maybe even the country. Over the past two years, the town of Hadley — best known for its asparagus — has gained fame for another reason: new union organizing. Since 2022, workers at the Hadley locations of three retail giants moved to form the first-ever unions at their respective stores. It all began in July 2022, when employees at Trader Joe’s became the first in the nation to unionize at the grocery chain, giving birth to the independent union Trader Joe’s United. And that sparked a nationwide movement to unionize other Trader Joes. So far there have been three other successful union drives at Trader Joe’s stores in Minnesota, California, and Kentucky.

On this week’s episode, Shelby and Dusty are joined by Jamie Edwards, who serves as the union’s president and has worked at the Hadley store for more than a decade, and Maeg Yosef, who is the communications director at Trader Joe’s United and has been a Hadley store employee since 2004.

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Produced by Ático Studios. Music by An Archaeologist.

The Shoestring is an independent local news outlet serving western Massachusetts. In our podcast Trippin’ on the Shoestring, investigative reporters Dusty Christensen and Shelby Lee bring you big local scoops and important voices from across the Connecticut River Valley.

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