Workers go Wobbly at Muji Store in Portland

Cover: UNION-READY: Muji employees took part in the May Day march in downtown Portland.

Conor Kelley || At Muji’s only West Coast location — 621 SW 5th Ave. in downtown Portland — workers who stock and sell home goods in the charming Japanese store say there’s nothing cute about their working conditions.

Wages are low compared to comparable retail jobs in the area despite record earnings this past year, says Morgan Vriese, a backroom shift lead who receives shipments and helps stock the store. Vriese says the store has such high turnover that she’s the longest tenured worker after four years.

Over the past few months, workers held informal potlucks to share their concerns and decided in order to stabilize the store and negotiate living wages, they needed to unionize. They’ve formed Muji Workers United and are organizing with the Industrial Workers of the World (known as Wobblies).

In response to the union’s March 31 petition for an election, Muji filed briefs with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) arguing that backroom staff like Vriese do not share a “community of interest” with the sales staff up front, in an effort to split up the 33 members of the proposed bargaining unit. The NLRB is expected to rule on the issue and set an election date.

Why IWW? “We want to unionize the world,” Vriese says.

Muji did not return multiple emails from the Labor Press seeking comment.