<p>Workers at a suburban Home Depot began voting Friday on whether to make theirs the first unionized Home Depot in the country.</p><p>The secret-ballot election at the Harper Woods store ends Saturday.</p><p>If the approximately 170 workers vote to approve, it would be a major victory for the United Food and Commercial Workers, whose attempts to organize workers at Wal-Mart and other national big-box retailers largely have been unsuccessful.</p><p>"Any successful organizing that occurs in the discount big-box stores would be significant," said Robert Bruno, a professor of labor relations at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "While they (Home Depot) are not as big, they are as present" as Wal-Mart.</p><p>Home Depot has more than 1,500 stores in North America.</p><p>UFCW Local 876, based in Madison Heights, said it began its campaign in Harper Woods after it was contacted by workers there and at several other Home Depot stores. The local represents about 22,000 Michigan workers at retail chains including Kroger, Farmer Jack and Rite Aid.</p><p>The workers in Harper Woods are seeking greater job security after a rash of firings, said UFCW organizer Mark Charrette.</p><p>"It got to a point where you were wondering when you came to work if you were going to be fired that day as well," said Alicia Franklin, a 36-year-old cashier at the store.</p><p>Jay Wright, who works in the store's plumbing department, said it was high health care premiums that led him to join the organizing drive.</p><p>"I'm paying $300 for my health care," said Wright, 47. "That hurts."</p><p>Home Depot said its employees are better off without the union.</p><p>"We recognize the right of our associates to examine third-party representation but are confident that in the end they will choose the positive, open and rewarding business environment they currently enjoy," the Atlanta-based company said in a statement.</p><p>Charrette said the first Home Depot workers to approach Local 876 were from a store in Flint. The company responded by interrogating workers and threatening to deny them benefits, he said.</p><p>Home Depot denied it committed any unfair labor practices in Flint. The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a hearing on the matter for Sept. 23.</p><p>Charrette said that, to his knowledge, this weekend's vote is the first organizing attempt at a Home Depot store to get to the voting stage. The Teamsters had two unsuccessful elections among Home Depot drivers, he said.</p><p>If the union wins, it could embolden the UFCW to put more resources toward organizing Home Depot stores nationwide, said Bruno, the labor expert. However, the true test of success would come later, with contract negotiations, he said.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2865ad4)</p><p>HASH(0x2865b7c)</p>
