It’s been a minute since we checked in on the rising trend of organizing at progressive companies. That conversation took place in the context of Gen Z workers, who are not only more receptive toward Big Labor’s toolbox of strategies but are willing to challenge so-called “progressive” employers for not always “practicing values that they espouse.”
Those confrontations show no sign of slowing down.
A “Salting” Update
Salting isn’t a new practice. Yet faux-barista Jaz Brisack’s infiltration of Starbucks, a company known for investing their dollars in activist causes, has given the cloak-and-dagger union maneuver more headline value. A few updates on these tactics:
- SEIU-affiliated Starbucks Workers United (SWU) received another publicity boost with the release of Brisack’s new book, titled Get On The Job And Organize, as an unsubtle reference to salting. As the graph below from LRI RightNow indicates, SWU is not slowing down on the number of petitions filed each month.
- The Southern Workers Assembly (SWA) has made salting their mission, too. The network of unions issued a “rank and file”-labeled agenda for workers “getting jobs in key strategic industries across the region and digging in for the long-term to build power with their coworkers.” SWA will train its recruits on how to secure employment at target companies.
No More Funny Business
Back in 2021, South Park TV series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone pursued their childhood fever dream by purchasing the original Casa Bonita restaurant to save the “eatertainment” venue from bankruptcy. The Lakewood, CO location grand-reopened in 2023, but not without labor friction for the duo that famously skewered capitalism on Comedy Central.
Now, the pair is dealing with three staff unions:
- In November 2024, two simultaneous unionizations happened by “landslide vote” at Casa Bonita. As a result, 60 performers, including cliff divers, actors, and magicians, joined Actors’ Equity; and 20 crew members joined SEIU.
- This month, the “eatertainment” venue’s arcade workers joined IATSE by card check with Casa Bonita voluntarily recognizing the union.
How did this happen? The performers seek on-the-job safety protections, but workers also scrutinized Casa Bonita over wages. The restaurant had prohibited tipping and instituted a $30 hourly base wage for hourly workers. Yet many bartenders and servers expressed outrage because they believed that they could make more money with tips on top of a $15 wage.
This was perhaps inevitable. Tipping is a hot-button topic has also been seized upon by unions, which takes us into a related topic.
Trouble in “grass-fed grass-finished” paradise?
Industrial Workers of the World boasted about “winning” a tip button for Burgerville drive-thru workers after unionizing a location in 2018. A year later, the union put workers at four locations on strike. This month, however, a decertification petition was filed for a Burgerville in Portland, OR. The reason for the petition remains nebulous, so we’ll be watching the situation.
Conclusion
Even the “hippie-founded” Ben & Jerry’s has seen locations unionize with SEIU-affiliated Scoopers United and UFCW. The same goes for Trader Joe’s, even though no union contracts have been reached at any of the grocer’s four unionized locations.
The lesson remains clear: No amount of outward social activism by a company will keep them safe from unions, by salting or otherwise.
