Close union vote at Jimmy Johns

Fast-Food Employees Reject Union Effort in a Narrow Vote

Excerpt:

The [Minneapolis area ] workers voted against joining the Industrial Workers of the World, which was a powerful, far-left union a century ago, but now is far smaller and weaker and often seeks to organize groups of workers that other unions overlook.

Among the votes cast, 87 were against the union, 85 for, with 2 challenged ballots. The challenged ballots would not affect the outcome because the union needs a majority to win. The results are final, but parties have seven days to file objections before the results are certified. Erik Forman, one of the leading pro-union employees, said the union would file objections, accusing management of unfair labor practices, to ask for a new vote.

Supporters of the union’s effort vowed to try to unionize fast-food workers in other cities if the union won in Minneapolis. The campaign focused on 10 Jimmy John’s shops in the Minneapolis area. The stores compete with Subway and Quiznos and are owned by Mike Mulligan, a retired senior vice president at Supervalu, the national grocery company.

During the organizing drive, many workers complained about low pay, at the $7.25-an-hour minimum wage or slightly above. They also said they had short, often unpredictable shifts, and were disciplined when they called in sick.

Before the vote, union supporters were predicting victory, noting that about 60 percent of the restaurants’ 200 workers had signed pro-union cards asking the labor board to hold a unionization vote.

Mr. Mulligan fought the organizing drive, hiring an antiunion consultant, the Labor Relations Institute, to meet with his employees and urge them to vote against joining the union. Mr. Mulligan said that the I.W.W., commonly known as the Wobblies, was a “socialist-anarchist organization” that “preaches the overthrow of capitalism.”

The I.W.W. has been seeking, with little success, to unionize Starbucks shops in recent years.

Comment: More on the I.W.W. here. Also of interest is "Wobbly Lingo"