It's not relevant. Unionization takes months at least but usually years. The workers at this store in Maryland had their first vote in 2022. The campaign started in 2021. The NLRB moves like molasses and heavily favors employers.
If workers had a notion that their store was underperforming, there's no way anyone could unionize fast enough to prevent it from closing. So it's not a realistic hypothetical. In fact, the company would probably close an underperforming store sooner if there was a unionization drive and would have plenty of time to do so before certification.
> In fact, the company would probably close an underperforming store sooner if there was a unionization drive and would have plenty of time to do so before certification.
Presumably closing the store in response to an attempt at unionization would be the same thing?
Legally, closing an underperforming location in response to a unionization attempt and after a successful unionization are completely different situations.
After unionization, what is required when closing a store is written into the negotiated contract.
The contract isn't really the issue. It's what the law should be.
The parties could put nearly anything they want into the contract. But if the company intends to close the store then they'd just not accept anything in the contract that makes it difficult to close the store, and if the workers go on strike then they were going to close to store anyway.