🗞️ Union Defeat Stands: BJ's Wholesale Club Escapes New Election Despite Labor Law Violations

Federal labor regulators have certified the results of a union election that workers at a Brooklyn BJ's Wholesale Club lost nearly three years ago, even after finding that the company's top manager broke the law by questioning employees about their union sympathies in the weeks before the vote.

The National Labor Relations Board issued its ruling on March 27, 2026, in BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. and United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local No. 342, affirming an administrative law judge's decision from August 2024. Workers in the meat and deli departments at the company's East New York facility had voted 14 to 7 against joining UFCW Local 342 in April 2023, with one ballot challenged.

The Board concluded that Club Manager Andre Batts violated federal labor law when he privately questioned two employees, Julius Anderson and Mark Ellis, about how they felt about the union during individual meetings in his office. Fresh Manager Tanahka Campbell separately told Ellis on election day to go vote "if he knows what is good for him," a statement the administrative law judge credited but ultimately found did not rise to the level of objectionable conduct affecting the election. The Board declined to order a new election. Because neither worker passed along what happened to any of their colleagues in the bargaining unit, and because the union had lost by seven votes, the board found the misconduct too contained to have swayed the result.

Two other allegations against the company were dismissed outright. BJ's had required meat and deli employees to attend small-group meetings with human resources representatives to hear the company's case against the union, and had sent a letter suggesting that a yes vote would "erode" its open-door policy with management. Both practices, the board found, were lawful under the legal standards in place at the time of the 2023 campaign. Both standards have since been overruled. In November 2024, the board held in Amazon.com Services LLC that employers violate federal labor law by requiring employees to attend meetings at which the employer expresses its views on unionization, overturning a 76-year-old precedent. A companion ruling the same month, in Siren Retail Corp. d/b/a Starbucks, imposed stricter requirements on employer statements about how unionization would affect the employer-employee relationship. The board applied both new standards prospectively only, meaning they did not reach conduct that predated the decisions and left BJ's dismissals intact.

As part of the remedy, the company was ordered to post notices at its East New York store in both English and Spanish for 60 consecutive days, a requirement added because some employees primarily speak Spanish. The board rejected the General Counsel's push for more aggressive remedies, including a public reading of the notice to employees and written compliance instructions delivered to managers, finding the standard remedies adequate given the narrow scope of what was proven.

Key Points

• Election result certified: UFCW Local 342 lost 14 to 7 and will not represent BJ's Brooklyn meat and deli workers.
• Unlawful interrogation found: Club Manager Andre Batts questioned two employees about their union sympathies in closed-door meetings, violating the National Labor Relations Act, though the conduct did not reach other workers.
• No new election ordered: The board found the violations de minimis relative to the seven-vote margin and the absence of any dissemination to other eligible voters.
• Captive-audience meetings allowed under prior law: Mandatory employer-led meetings on the subject of unionization were permissible under Babcock & Wilcox precedent governing the 2023 campaign, even though that standard has since been overruled.
• New legal standards applied prospectively only: The board's 2024 rulings in Amazon and Starbucks changed the law on captive-audience meetings and management-relationship statements, but did not reach conduct that predated those decisions.
• Bilingual notice required: BJ's must post compliance notices in English and Spanish at its East New York facility and distribute them electronically.
• Constitutional challenge rejected: The company's argument that statutory protections for NLRB members and administrative law judges from presidential removal violate Article II of the Constitution was denied for lack of demonstrated harm.

Primary Source Author: Chairman James R. Murphy; Members David M. Prouty and Scott A. Mayer (NLRB Board Panel); ALJ Michael P. Silverstein

Primary Source: BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. and United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local No. 342, 374 NLRB No. 79 (March 27, 2026)

Primary Source Link: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/29-CA-317035

Supplemental Links

• NLRB Press Release: Board Rules Captive-Audience Meetings Unlawful (Amazon.com Services LLC)
• NLRB Case Page: 29-RC-314143 (Representation Election Record)
• NLRB Region 29 Brooklyn Office
• Morgan Lewis Analysis: NLRB Restrains Employer Speech, Finds Captive-Audience Meetings Unlawful
• Law360: New Union Vote Isn't Justified at BJ's Store, NLRB Judge Says
• UFCW Local 342