This was originally going to be a very different email.
In April, workers at the New York location of Attaboy, a bar World’s 50 Best described as a “mecca for speakeasy fans,” announced they were forming an independent union, Attaboy Local 134. “We love this bar, and we want it to be the best it can be — for us, and for you all,” the union wrote on Instagram about its mission. A month after the announcement, labor supporters won their right to establish a union with the National Labor Relations Board, thanks to a 13-8 vote.
While the bar’s owners, Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy, told the New York Times they would bargain in good faith, they have yet to set an initial bargaining date. Ross also ominously said, when asked about the business, “we cannot predict the future.” Attaboy Local 134 is organizing at a time when restaurants and bars have faced brutal union busting and even retaliatory closures, like at Brooklyn pizzeria Barboncino and at unionized Starbucks locations. Historically, restaurants and bars met difficulty in unionizing. They tend to be smaller workplaces with high turnover (often by management design), making it hard to keep a group together long enough to fight for better conditions.
I initially spoke to union member and longtime food service worker Hannah Chouinard on May 15, about Attaboy Local 134’s goals as they prepared to bargain, and the belief that both workers and management shared a commitment to Attaboy’s success. But on the night of Friday, May 22, Chouinard texted me that things had escalated. Instead of bargaining in good faith, Attaboy management had fired Chris Hughes, a long tenured worker and outspoken union organizer, in alleged retaliation for his union involvement. They also announced new, punitive policies. Now, the union is seeking remedy through the NLRB.
Today’s newsletter features: Exclusive conversations with Chouinard and bartender Samaiyah Patrick about management’s union busting efforts, forming Attaboy Local 134, and reports about them have gotten wrong so far.
Plus, new stories this week on Ravenous about Malört’s tricky relationship with the James Beard Awards gala, and a dispatch on soft serve from around the country — is it a recession indicator?