City Market Supports a Diverse Workplace

Co-op clarifies current controversy around language in the workplace

November 21, 2013

UPDATE 11/22: City Market Details Plan to Support Diverse Workplace

While the topic of workplace diversity is a conversation for much more than press releases, email and social media, the Co-op is responding to recent allegations about our support of workplace diversity. These allegations have recently been the topic of many heated local conversations on Facebook and in the store.

In our Co-op kitchen alone, our employees speak at least 6 different languages. We encourage employees for whom English is a second language to speak English in order to gain fluency, improve customer service, enhance opportunities for promotion, and to help ensure a comfortable work environment no matter which languages our employees speak. English fluency is an expectation in every job description at City Market and we have many staff members who are in different places on that continuum.

Earlier this month, the Co-op fielded a grievance from the bargaining unit which represents our staff. The union’s grievance was, in part, based on an alleged violation of the no discrimination policy in our contract through an “English only” policy. The grievance, as it was written, stems from a recent department meeting during which a manager incorrectly stated that employees needed to speak English in that particular department while at work. This was an attempt to resolve several disputes between employees for whom English is a second language and where both parties involved speak different languages. Our managers and supervisors have had a challenging time mediating these disputes, even with interpreters, when three languages and as many cultural nuances are involved. Our Director of Human Resources was in this same meeting and clarified that what the Co-op expects is that employees will refrain from talking about sensitive issues that would make others uncomfortable at work (like politics, religion and personal gossip). Since the clarification occurred in the same meeting as the misstatement, and the union was grieving a language policy that doesn’t exist at the Co-op, we had hopes of settling the grievance during the discussion at the first step meeting.

We denied the grievance itself as the underlying assertion (the existence of a language policy) wasn’t based on our actual policies, and at the same time we reiterated that our goal is to treat all employees with respect and encourage employees to speak English at work. We also clarified that while we encourage our employees to speak English at work, we don’t require it and staff will not be sent home or disciplined for speaking other languages at work. Due to holiday scheduling, the earliest we can meet to discuss this further with the union committee is December 2 and we’re hopeful for an amicable resolution. We continue to remind managers and staff, as well as our community, that there is no language policy at the Co-op. We continue to provide a safe and supportive work environment for each individual staff member, no matter their native language.

We’ve reached out to some of our community partners around the topic of a diverse workplace, including the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV) and the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP). They have shared that they also encourage their clients to speak English for many of the same reasons as the Co-op. In addition, they spoke of the Co-op as a valued partner, based in part on the benefits and support that we offer our employees, including bus passes, medical insurance, retirement planning, and more. We’ve also reached out to community members who are alleging that we do have a language policy in the hopes that we’d both find an in-depth and in-person conversation more useful.

Language and the way we share information with Co-op staff and our community is important; the words we use to explain our policies and actions count. We certainly made a misstep, that we quickly corrected, in regard to what we shared with some employees on language expectations. This was never a Co-op policy, but certainly reminds us of the power of language. We’ll continue to invest time in working with community partners, cooperatives and businesses to ensure we continuously learn and improve upon the best ways to support our diverse staff. We will also offer additional diversity training and cultural awareness training to all of our staff, so that our actions and words align with our goals.

As a Co-op, where most of our staff are also Members, we believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. We would continue to hope, as we reiterate our values and continue to put them into practice, that community members would seek us out with questions or concerns so that we can have meaningful conversations about supporting diversity.

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About City Market, Onion River Co-op

The Onion River Co-op is a consumer cooperative, with over 9,500 Members, selling wholesome food and other products while building a vibrant, empowered community and a healthier world, all in a sustainable manner. Located in downtown Burlington, Vermont, City Market provides a large selection of local, organic and conventional foods, and thousands of local and Vermont-made products. Visit City Market, Onion River Co-op online at www.CityMarket.coop or call 802-861-9700.

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