Mother’s Market suspends 15 workers amid Costa Mesa union drive

Mother’s Market suspended 15 Costa Mesa workers while they were taking part in a union drive at the Newport Boulevard and 19th Street store, making the shop a fresh flashpoint in retail labor organizing. The suspensions came after workers had already turned the location into a visible campaign site earlier in the year.

In April, grocery workers kicked off an Orange County union drive in Costa Mesa and staged a “March on the Boss” rally into the store. The campaign was not confined to one location. A separate account said Mother’s Market workers were organizing across all 11 of the chain’s stores, showing that the dispute stretched beyond one storefront and into the broader chain.

The most striking allegation came from a public post by CLUE, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. The group said the 15 suspended supporters had not been given an explanation from management and that the common thread among the workers was that they had signed a Scheduling Petition and/or a union card. That detail matters because scheduling complaints and union support often move together in retail, where shifts, hours, and discipline can quickly become part of an organizing fight.

State Sen. Ben Allen also publicly voiced concern about the suspensions, saying he was deeply concerned to hear about 15 employees who were seeking to organize a union. His reaction pushed the dispute beyond the store and into the political arena, a sign that management’s response was drawing scrutiny well outside the workplace.

For Big Lots workers watching this unfold, the lesson is in the timing and the paper trail. When discipline arrives during a drive, not after months of routine operations, every scheduling change, warning, and suspension notice becomes part of the story. If management cites performance, attendance, or policy, keep the document. If the action follows a petition, card signing, or organizing meeting, save the dates, texts, and any written explanation. The closer the discipline lands to protected activity, the more carefully the record needs to be kept.

Mother’s Market’s Anaheim Hills location at 5759 E Santa Ana Canyon Rd. in Anaheim underscores how broad the chain’s footprint is, and why a fight in Costa Mesa can echo across the company. In retail, a single suspension can become a companywide test of how far management will go once workers start organizing.