One of the country\'s largest retail unions represents workers at department stores, grocery stores and bakeries.
Now it has a new Category: Sex shop workers.
The group said on Monday that 25 employees at Babeland, an adult toy store in three locations in New York City, voted to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store unions last week.
Workers say the move will help them address some of the salary and training issues, as well as some concerns that are more specific to the nature of adult retail work and a small number of transgender employees.
\"This is the only organized adult sex goods store,\" Retail Alliance chairman Stuart Appelbaum said in an interview on Monday.
\"I think it\'s important.
\"Employees say there are many reasons why they want to form a union: more transparency in hiring, promotion and disciplinary decisions, and support for expressing grievances and dealing with workplace disputes.
The union said the union vote on Friday was 21 to 4.
\"It shows how much we love this place,\" said Lena solo . \" Soro said she has worked in Papua for three years.
\"We want it to be the best place.
Babeland sells a wide range of sex toys, accessories and books, and workers are proud to think of themselves as sex educators.
But they said it also made them targets for aggression and even harassment.
\"People don\'t ask what shirts are best for you,\" added Phoenix Casino, who has worked in Babeland for two years.
Employees advocate better training and support from management to respond to problematic customers.
For example, they pushed the caller ID to help clear the threat calls that the staff said they received on a daily basis.
Two of the three stores now have caller ID, says Babeland.
The store also said it \"developed a new training list\" based on feedback from employees, focusing on how to deal with difficult customers.
Claire Cavanah, a colleague.
The founder of Babeland, who opened her first store in Seattle in 1993, said she was surprised to learn that workers wanted to form a union.
\"We have been working on this for a year to get Babeland to work at a better pace,\" she said . \".
For example, in the third quarter, the company raised the minimum starting salary for New York City employees from $12 to $14.
The current minimum wage in New York is $9.
\"I think it\'s a bit too late for the staff,\" Ms. Cavanah said.
Seattle\'s location is not part of Friday\'s vote. Mx.
Casino identifies as transgender and uses pronouns \"they\" instead of \"he\" or \"she\" and others say they also want management to address it for employees identified as transgender or other gendernonconforming.
When Massima is eager to get in and out of the shift, she flickers when she sees the name that pops up on the screen. While her co-
She said workers called her Massima, the company using her legal name in its computer system.
Having Babeland respect her gender identity is just one of the reasons why she voted to form a union.
\"This is a question of dignity, and this is the question we are going to negotiate . \"
Appelbaum, chairman of the Retail Alliance, said. Ms.
Cavanah said Babeland used the names and pronouns they identified as employees.
She said she didn\'t know there was any problem with punching in.
In recent months, trans-gender issues have been central to the national civil rights debate.
This month, the Obama administration issued a letter banning public schools from forcing students to use bathrooms that do not match their gender identity.
The directive was issued during a heated debate in North Carolina over a state law restricting access to bathrooms, dressing rooms and dressing rooms.
\"More and more transgender people are taking up their jobs and leaving early, so it is necessary to do more work on these issues, Hayden Mora said, he is a former labor organizer, also a managing partner of The Parallax Group, a consulting firm that specializes in cross-gender workplace issues.
\"Many employers and many people at management have not done the work that is critical and necessary.