Colectivo is set to become the largest unionized cafe in the U.S. Its owners aren't pleased.
Milwaukee-based coffee shop chain Colectivo Coffee may soon become the country’s largest unionized café, after newly counted ballots brought the previously tied union vote results to 106 to 99 on Monday.
In response, the chain’s owners took to social media to express their displeasure. In an open letter posted Monday afternoon, they criticized the process and said they were “disappointed," prompting many on the platforms to call the company anti-union and hypocritical.
Employees in all of the chain’s shops — which include locations in the Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago areas — were eligible to cast votes in March, following months of organizing efforts backed by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 494. The initial vote deadlocked 99 to 99, with the company and the union challenging a total of 16 ballots, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in April.
On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board opened and counted the ballots it had deemed eligible. All were in favor of unionizing.
Read more: https://madison.com/ct/news/local/colectivo-is-set-to-become-the-largest-unionized-caf-in-the-u-s-its-owners/article_7c4f37cb-4efd-5959-9374-5299a7525dc6.html