PHILADELPHIA—Home Depot workers in Philadelphia rejected the first store-wide labor union at the world’s largest home improvement retailer Saturday night, a loss for a fledgling movement to organize at major U.S. companies.
Workers voted 165 to 51 against forming Home Depot Workers United, which would have represented 274 employees at the store, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which oversaw the voting. The company and union organizations have five days to file objections.
The defeat for the organizers could discourage activist workers who have successfully formed the first unions at big chains, including Amazon, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, and Apple, but have since suffered setbacks in getting collective bargaining off the ground or organizing more unions….