Workers at Bay Area Good Vibrations adult retailers move one step closer to unionizing
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 (UFCW5) logo. Located in Hayward, Calif., UFCW5 advocates for the hard-working men and women of Northern California. (UFCW5 via Bay City News)
Workers at several Bay Area locations of the adult company Good Vibrations have filed for a union election to determine whether workers will officially unionize, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union announced Friday.
UFCW Local 5 said workers at the sex-positive adult retailers were motivated to organize after the COVID-19 pandemic "exacerbated" on-the-job safety issues. Now workers are asking for better wages, job security and improved health and safety practices, according to the union.
No one at Good Vibrations corporate offices or its parent company Barnaby Ltd. could be reached for comment Friday.
If the union election results in workers deciding to unionize, Good Vibrations stores in Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, Palo Alto, and Santa Cruz will be affected, along with the adult entertainment store Camouflage in Santa Cruz, according to Jim Araby, spokesperson for UFCW Local 5.
Araby said Good Vibrations workers needed at least 30% of them to sign union authorization cards in order to spur a union election and they received well over 50%.
"We filed with the National Labor Relations Board today," said Araby. "Typically, between six and eight weeks after you file for an election, the election is scheduled. And then that's the day the workers get to vote for the union."
Once certified, contract negotiations begin, 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.
Araby said Babeland's successful unionizing in New York could bode well for workers at Good Vibrations.
UFCW said it is the largest private sector union in the United States, representing 1.2 million workers.