Good Vibrations adult retail workers join union to boost safety, wages
Workers at eight Bay Area locations of the adult retail chain Good Vibrations won an election to unionize, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said Friday.
The union, which represents workers in grocery, retail, cannabis and other industries, said the drive was triggered by on-the-job safety issues following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Workers are asking Barnaby Inc., Good Vibrations' parent company, for better wages, job security and improved health and safety practices, according to the union.
"We need a union here so our staff can win for ourselves the kind of empowered pleasurable lives that we encourage for our customers," Sam Pollack, a Good Vibrations employee who helped lead the organizing drive, said in a union press release.
The election was certified Friday by the National Labor Relations Board, according to Jim Araby, a spokesman for UFCW Local 5. The certification will allow the union to begin contract negotiations, he said.
The union will cover Good Vibrations stores in Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, Palo Alto, and Santa Cruz, along with the adult entertainment store Camouflage in Santa Cruz, Araby said.
In 2016, workers at Babeland, another adult retailer owned by Barnaby Ltd., unionized in New York and secured a contract that provided health benefits, wage increases and safety and security protocols, according to UFCW Local 5.
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