Colectivo Coffee Inches Closer to Seeing Union Election Results to the Chagrin of Management

Five months after initial results showed a tie in Wisconsin-based Colectivo Coffee’s election on whether or not to unionize, the chain is closer to determining an official outcome. After a tumultuous battle with ownership, preliminary returns in April showed a tie with seven challenged ballots remaining. Despite management’s efforts to exclude these ballots, National Labor Relations Board has decided that those uncounted ballots will be opened and counted, according to union organizers.

The NLRB hasn’t yet settled on a date when that would happen. Should union organizers plans come to fruition, Colectivo would become the largest unionized workforce at a coffee chain in the U.S. Without the seven uncounted votes, the election was deadlocked at 99-99.

“After months of bated breath we received word of the decision made by the board in DC and they agree with us in opening the challenged ballots!!!,” organizers wrote Friday on Instagram. “That means seven more ballots will be fairly counted and we couldn’t be more happy! Literally jumping for joy over here.”

After workers began to organize, Colectivo management hired a union avoidance firm and employed common union busting tactics. They’ve still maintained in media interviews they are not anti-union. The company opened its first Chicago location in 2017 and now operates locations in Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, Logan Square, Andersonville, and suburban Evanston. Originally founded in Milwaukee, the company has about 350 employees spread across more than a dozen locations in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Organizing efforts predate the pandemic, but the challenges of COVID-19 spurred workers to push for measures like increased safety protocols, formalized communication channels with management, and consistent scheduling. They sought out the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), as it could represent both warehouse employees and cafe workers. IBEW’s experience provided Colectivo the resources that restaurant workforces lack when it comes to organizing. The lack of infrastructure is a major reason while so few service industry workers belong to unions.

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