Portland restaurant workers vote to become first fast food union in the country

thehill.com ^ | 04/24/2018 | By Jacqueline Thomsen

[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.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

LOL. Exactly. Look for the “Burgerville Goes Out of Business” or the “Burgerville Moves to Automated Order System” story within a few months.

[Rusty0604]

Right out of business.

[ltc8k6]

I hope they didn’t forget to subtract their union dues from their raise...

[Red Badger]

The Twentieth Century Motor Company – Atlas Shrugged .............................

[skimbell]

Yeah,

...I see great strides in technology in your future..."

[Amendment10]

”… in a National Labor Relations Board-run election [??? emphasis added]."

FR: Never Accept the Premise of Your Opponent’s Argument

Patriots are reminded that the states have never amended the Constitution to expressly protect labor unions, or to make INTRAstate labor laws.

"From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.

In other words, the NLRB is one of many unconstitutional front-ends for state powers stolen by the feds imo, the NLRB established by the corrupt, post-17th Amendment ratification, FDR era Congress.

So while their intentions are arguably good, these misguided, low-information employees have arguably been tricked by the unconstitutional NLRB into abusing their voting power by using it to help unconstitutionally expand the already unconstitutionally big federal government’s powers.

Patriots, we really need to get rid of the ill-conceived 17th Amendment.

The 16th Amendment can disappear too.

[Maine Mariner]

She really did not have a choice. Any negative comments would have resulted in the union filing an unfair labor practice with either the state labor board or the NLRB.

[Nifster]

Burger villa soon to declare bankruptcy.....

[Nifster]

I see what you did there 😂😂😂

[Nifster]

Halibut ain’t a burger

[simpson96]

"Soon to be FORMER employees"

Yep. They've got it allllllllll figured out, haven't they?

[Calvin Locke]

Back in the day, Henry Ford II said the only place he could get a good burger was in the Ford Executive Dining room.

Working there for 20 or 30 years was probably a great gig.

(Lee Iacocca, in his first book, recounted that after Ford said that, he, Iacocca went into the kitchen to see if he could find out the secret. The chef said "Sure, watch." The chef opened a fridge, grabbed a prime cut of steak, ran it through a meat grinder, hand-shaped the freshly ground meat into a patty, and slapped it on the grill.)

[Calvin Locke]

To add insult to injury, if the company remains around long enough to automate, they should tell any displace union people that they e-verified the American-built robots...

[Obadiah]

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.

Ha, ha. Call the INS! Pedro will work for $5 per hour and these guys will be gone. Man, these people are just a bag of hammers.

[keat]

At 42 locations, I doubt this chain has the capital to automate the restaurants with the technology currently available.

It should be interesting and informative to watch this unfold. At this scale, all of the bad things that a union can inflict on the company, the workers and the customers should unfold pretty quickly.

On the other hand, the newly formed union may become a target of acquisition by a real union, such as the UFCW. The company executives will start singing a different tune if that starts happening.

[servo1969]

I can not wait until they go to robots!

[Architect of Avalon]

Coming soon, $40 hamburgers, to be followed by robots who can make french fries.

[kaehurowing]

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.

[JZelle]

Why would they want to preserve marion berry, he’s already got a statue in DC.

[dfwgator]

Carl's Jr. Computer: Enjoy your EXTRA BIG ASS FRIES!

Woman at Carl's Jr.: You didn't give me no fries, I got an empty box.

Carl's Jr. Computer: Would you like another EXTRA BIG ASS FRIES?

Woman at Carl's Jr.: I said I didn't get any!

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Woman at Carl's Jr.: What? Oh no, NO!

Carl's Jr. Computer: I'm sorry you're having trouble. I'm sorry you're having trouble.

Woman at Carl's Jr.: Come on! My kids are starvin'!

Carl's Jr. Computer: This should help you calm down. Please come back when you can afford to make a purchase. Your kids are starving. Carl's Jr. believes no child should go hungry. You are an unfit mother. Your children will be placed in the custody of Carl's Jr. Carl's Jr... "F___ You, I'm Eating."

Carl's Jr. Computer: Welcome to Carl's Jr. Would you like to try our EXTRA BIG ASS TACO? Now with more MOLECULES!