Over the years, Lunds & Byerlys has become one of Minneapolis’s favorite food stores and is known for its competitive prices and fresh foods. However, not all is well behind the scenes. Friday saw the UFCW (United Food and commercial workers) representing over 2,500 Lunds & Byerlys workers vote to go on strike.

As a result, they vowed to meet Lunds & Byerly’s representatives on Monday (tomorrow) to discuss worker conditions. According to UFCW, they said “Today, our coworkers demonstrated the power that comes from standing against company intimidation. Lunds & Byerlys has engaged in unfair labor practices meant to stop us from exercising our rights despite our tireless efforts to serve customers every day – throughout the pandemic and beyond.” The statement also claimed that the “decision to call a strike was always a last resort.”

The news to strike was mostly met with positivity by Minneapolis residents, with one proclaiming, “Good for them! I will always stand with grocery store employees!” But not everyone agreed, without person claiming, “Well, guess I’ll be doing my shopping at Whole Foods and Kowalski’s tomorrow. I love Lund’s but I’m not crossing the picket line.”

As ever with strikes and union action, this one may be over within minutes of discussion, or it may well rumble on for the coming months. It really depends on if and how an agreement can be met. Undoubtedly though, the workers of Lunds & Byerlys are not happy.