Workers at Tony’s Fresh Market in the Chicago area filed petitions this month to unionize through Local 881 United Food and Commercial Workers.
The two proposed bargaining units could include about 2,400 Tony’s Fresh Market employees in Chicago and the suburbs, according to petitions for elections filed with the National Labor Relations Board on Feb. 14. Full- and part-time clerks, assistant managers and department managers are eligible to organize.
Tony’s Fresh Market is the largest, independent grocery chain in Chicago by volume, according to its website. It operates 21 stores under its parent company Heritage Grocers Group. Tony’s was founded in 1979 by Italian immigrants Tony Ingraffia and Domenico Gambino, and it was the city’s first family-owned grocery chain, the company’s website said.
Local 881 UFCW and Heritage Grocers did not respond to requests for comment.
In 2022, New York private equity firm Apollo Global Management bought Tony’s Fresh Market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The private equity firm also has a stake in Albertsons, whose properties include Jewel-Osco.
Local 881 UFCW represents 34,000 employees in retail, food and drug stores throughout Illinois and Northwest Indiana, including at Jewel-Osco, Kroger and Mariano’s.
It also represents cannabis workers in Illinois, as well as health and nursing home workers, barbers and cosmetologists.
Local 881 is among the largest affiliates of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.3 million members in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.