Posted on 04/24/2018 11:37:39 AM PDT by Red Badger
Workers at a Burgerville restaurant in Portland, Ore., have voted to create the first formally recognized fast food union in the country.
Willamette Week reported Monday that staff at one of the chain’s locations voted 18-4 to unionize, more than two years after workers began the push to be formally recognized as a union.
Burgerville announced earlier this month that it would allow the staff to vote to unionize in a National Labor Relations Board-run election.
"We started the BVWU to try to make things better for ourselves and our coworkers," Burgerville employee Mark Medina told Willamette Week. "The union is about workers standing up for each other and building a better world."
The union is now planning to negotiate a raise of $5 an hour for hourly staffers, on top of affordable health care, child care and consistent hours.
The group had called on customers to boycott the Burgerville location since February, and its spokesperson said the boycott "will remain in effect until the union and the company negotiate a fair contract."
Beth Brewer, Burgerville's senior vice president of operations, said in a statement to Williamette Week that the company is "ready to support the nation's first unionized fast-food store."
"Our employees have spoken, we hear them, and we support their decision. We will navigate this new working relationship together in a positive, productive way and bargain in good faith with the union at Burgerville Store #41,” Brewer said.
A second Burgerville location in Portland has also filed to hold an election to unionize, but the company has not yet responded to the request.
“The union is about workers standing up for each other and building a better world.”
They can re-organize into a “Former fast food workers support group” after they are all replaced by automation.
Will someone please give me a genuine answer as to why people wish to unionize? What is the drawing power?
BVWU’s demands: affordable health insurance, a $5-per-hour-raise for each employee, a more reliable scheduling system, and the discontinuation of “E-Verify,” a program Burgerville uses during the hiring process that identifies and reports undocumented immigrants.
Burgerville responded in a carefully-worded press release. “Our employees have spoken, we hear them, and we support their decision. We will navigate this new working relationship together in a positive, productive way and bargain in good faith,” said Senior Vice President of Operations Beth Brewer. “We are proud of our relationship with our coworkers, and we will continue to provide a fair, positive work environment for all.”
But the chain still managed to add few jabs at its employees in the release, noting that they are already paid 20 percent more than the industry standard and are offered healthcare. What a positive way to kick-off their “new working relationship.”
They want customers to boycott their place of employment until higher wage and benefit demands are met. Stupidity.
Keep it stupid, Portland.
Something is wrong with you if you want to work in a burger joint for 20 or 30 years...
They think they can get auto factory wages from 1983 and benefits....without understanding that those days are long gone.
And they don’t work at an auto plant.
Who knew Portlandia was a reality show????????..........
I am thoroughly convinced that there only THREE things worth coming from Oregon, and none of them are human.
1. Marionberry preserves.
2. Salmon fillets.
3. Pendleton wool products.
How to learn economics in one painful lesson.
They’re gonna get boycotted after they unionize.
Let’s see what happens when low skill workers unionize.
Calling for customers to boycott the very restaurant that you work for doesn’t seem like such a good idea.
Or am I missing something? Or are these people really just that stupid?
I’m leaning towards the latter.
Same here.
$5 raise plus expensive benefits ... No need to call for a boycott, the new prices will accomplish that. I suggest that second store hold off until they see the carnage resulting from the first.
What’s the typical margin for fast food?
I hope they enjoyed their abbreviated careers.
Heh, that is vey nearly entertaining to consider!!!
“Will someone please give me a genuine answer as to why people wish to unionize?”
To stupid to do things on their own.
“What is the drawing power?”
large amounts of bullshit that looks like money.
Portland, like Seattle, is a cesspool of leftwing communism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.