Union voting can go ahead at a Bruegger’s Bagels store in Iowa City, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled.
The workers claim their quest to organize Bruegger’s Workers United is the first unionization effort at a Bruegger’s anywhere in the country.
Employees at both an Iowa City store and a Coralville store sought approval for the July 9 vote. But those in Coralville are not eligible because it closed on May 31, which workers say was a union-busting move, two days after they announced their intention to unionize.
Bruegger’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The ruling makes no mention of Coralville’s closure.
All employees who work at the Iowa City location are eligible to vote, union representative Juniper Hollis, a former employee of the closed Coraville store, told the Press-Citizen on Friday. She said that between this ruling and the election – just 18 days – left her with a mix of emotions.
“These are people’s livelihoods at stake,” she said. “I want to make sure they all get what they deserve, so it’s definitely nerve-wracking to have an election date, but it’s also exciting because we know we’ve been working towards this, and we’re definitely that they all get what they deserve. will continue to work towards this.”
In the coming weeks, Hollis will continue to talk to employees and participate in picket lines like one employee did on June 15 outside the 708 S. Riverside Drive Bruegger’s in Iowa City. and gauge employee support for unionization.
A Bruegger’s location in downtown Iowa City is not part of the proposed bargaining unit.
In the weeks since workers announced their intention to form a union, Hollis has engaged other labor organizations in the region. Among those talking were members of the Iowa City Federation of Labor and workers at the Starbucks location in downtown Iowa City, where workers voted unanimously to unionize last May.
Many of those employees have found new work, she said. Hollis is still looking for a job, but said she might try to find a job in a union-related field, “now that I have some experience in the field.”
Bruegger’s Workers United must provide a full list of eligible voters to the Labor Council by Tuesday.
The board says that all elements of labor law were ‘clearly’ compliant
The ruling, handed down by NLRB Regional Director Jennifer Hadsall, analyzes the workers’ attempt to unionize under a three-pronged test laid out in the National Labor Relations Act.
The law defines a labor organization as “…any organization of whatever nature, or an agency or employee representation committee or scheme, in which employees participate and the purpose of which is, in whole or in part, to deal with employers on complaints, labor disputes, wages, wage rates , working hours or employment conditions.”
Hadsall found that all elements of this definition were “clearly” met.
“Elements one and three of this test are beyond dispute,” she wrote. The workers, she said, are participants in this organization, and the proposed union would negotiate “wages… and other working conditions.”
The middle section of the law mentions the purpose of ‘dealing with employers’. Hadsall noted that Bruegger cited a 1995 board ruling that a group of five hospital employees did not form a labor organization because they were united around a single issue: opposition to pay cuts. The board found that this was not a “pattern or practice of a group of employees making proposals to management over time” and management responding.
However, Hadsall wrote that Bruegger’s employees appear to have multiple fronts on which they want to engage Bruegger’s, including “wages, workplace respect and paid time off.”
“Although the petitioner has not yet been fully developed, the record provides sufficient evidence to establish labor organization status under the Council’s liberal standards,” Hadsall wrote.
Des Moines Register staff writer Kyle Werner contributed to this article.
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: NLRB rules Bruegger’s Iowa City workers allowed to hold union vote
