Coffee workers get support
Colectivo employees trying to unionize have the support of Milwaukee elected officials.
Colectivo Coffee Roasters employees are gaining support from elected officials as a group tries to unionize the local chain of cafes.
Colectivo employees started a campaign this summer to unionize the Milwaukee-based chain. About a dozen Colectivo employees have been working with a local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on the campaign to unionize.
“We love Colectivo, we want it to thrive and continue to grow, but we believe that can only be achieved through a partnership between employees and management,” said Hillary Laskonis, a Colectivo employee who is part of the union effort. “Executives continue to reassure us that they have an ‘opendoor policy’ but the circumstances of this pandemic have only continued to highlight the fact that our real strength, and our only hope for genuinely being heard, is when we act collectively.”
The 27-year-old chain of cafes and coffee roasters has locations in Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. Colectivo, across its cafes, production and corporate staff, has around 500 employees. The majority who work in the cafe, production, warehouse, roasting and bakery areas would be represented by the proposed union.
Management at Colectivo has not supported the effort to unionize.
“Colectivo respects the right of all workers to organize,” the company said in a statement. “However, it’s our belief that introducing the brotherhood of electrical workers into Colectivo would change the open, collaborative and direct-relationship culture we’ve painstakingly built with our employees over those 27 years.”
The leadership at Colectivo said it does not believe the union effort has enough support to trigger an election.
A majority of the 15 members of the Milwaukee Common Council declared support for the workers’ effort to unionize in a statement Tuesday.
Ten members, led by Ald. Khalif Rainey, signed on to the statement backing Colectivo employees.
Colectivo said it had not heard from any members of the Common Council before the group voiced support.
“It was a surprise to us that the Common Council would choose to comment on this issue without ever bothering to reach out,” the statement said. “We’re happy to discuss the pros and cons with any city leader.”