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Good Morning fellow D.U.ers
This is my first post so I feel I should quickly introduce myself and thank the administrators for the work they are doing.
My name is Doug and I have lived and worked as a baker and a musician in south east Wisconsin for all of my 54 years. The last seven years as the cake mixer for Troubadour Bakery which is owned and operated by Colectivo Coffee roaster.
Over the last two years, we have been trying to form a union. The company was not happy and spent big bucks on union avoidance advisors as well as captive audience meetings. We earned the right to vote, voted for unionization in the spring of 21. On March 25th, 2022 the company exhausted their last appeal to the NLRB. We will begin negotiations on our first contract in the coming months.
The last union bakery closed in the mid 90s. I have spent my life as a baker and have prayed to work for a union shop. Today Colectivo is the largest unionized coffee roaster in the United States.
I can not state this more clearly, it is possible to form a union. We just did it, you can too. Persevere.
IBEW Local 494 member Doug offers peace to all.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)Congrats and hope you get a great contract.
Cheers
Hotler
(11,325 posts)Ohio Joe
(21,607 posts)dixiechiken1
(2,113 posts)Thanks for your hard work & determination and congratulations on your success!
MissMillie
(38,416 posts).
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,480 posts)You are in a very honorable profession! Best of luck with your negotiations and please keep us posted.
KY.............
cally
(21,589 posts)and welcome to DU
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,094 posts)PatrickforB
(14,479 posts)We need unions now more than ever. Congrats on climbing a real tall mountain to get that done at Troubadour.
Your post made my day.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)It is the best way to be employed. My kid is trying to get an apprenticeship with an energy utility company. I strongly encouraged him to do this. Six figures after 4 years. My mother and father also worked union. There were a lot of union jobs in the 70s/80s
We live in Southeastern Pa so there still are a lot of union jobs around and they are looking for people.
I did work two non union jobs and got screwed at both places.
Having a trade is the way to go. You can work anywhere
634-5789
(4,175 posts)Worked a UAW job for 30 years, 12 AFTRA on radio...when it was actually GOOD...and the wife retired from the USPS. We're Union proud!
TexLaProgressive
(12,147 posts)Are you also a member of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM)?
niyad
(112,064 posts)very encouraging information. Keep up this great work.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)paleotn
(17,759 posts)And congrats on organizing. Funny how even businesses you'd think lean left fight unionization just as hard as those leaning right.
ancianita
(35,711 posts)Good for you! As you say, perseverance pays off.
I am now in exile in Florida, a right to work state in which the state constitution denies state employees the right to strike. Right now, FL union workers are 6.4% of the salaried workforce and slowly increasing.
OTOH, DeSantis' Tallahassee boyz chip away at unions in their latest of many anti-union bills (HB1197). This one would force public workers' unions -- teachers and govt workers -- to pay dues directly to their union themselves and not have dues deducted from paychecks; in this bill, at least half of the employees that are eligible for representation must be dues-paying members or the union could be decertified. We'll see if it passes.
"Employees deserve the right to confirm who's empowered to bargain for them," said Philip Suderman, one of the few speakers supporting the bill. Hes policy director for Americans For Prosperity, a right-leaning political advocacy group. "Employees deserve the right to end association with groups they feel no longer represent their best interests, and employees deserve the right to confirm when money is taken from their paychecks, and that it is indeed voluntary.
I'm not a teacher. I'm not a public sector laborer. But you don't have to be one of those to be offended by this legislation, said Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando. He cited onerous paperwork, threats of union decertification, and lost union revenues making it difficult to recruit members. "Folks, if it looks like a union busting bill, if it sounds like a union busting bill, if it acts like a union busting bill, and if it union busts like a union busting bill, it's a union busting bill, Smith said.
WiVoter
(863 posts)Its hard In Wisconsin these days, and it lifts me up to hear your good news. Thank you 😊
flying_wahini
(6,440 posts)Cozmo
(1,402 posts)KS Toronado
(16,715 posts)that any business with over X number of employees had to have a union.
Maybe after the midterms?
Duncanpup
(12,677 posts)c-rational
(2,576 posts)2naSalit
(85,639 posts)And great advice.
Welcome to DU!
Karadeniz
(22,157 posts)Omaha Steve
(98,872 posts)usaf-vet
(6,070 posts)malthaussen
(17,024 posts)Congratulations on the union.
-- Mal
Wiscodoug
(59 posts)Thank you all for your support. I am happy to have successfully posted here. I have been putting that off. I feel welcome and was pleased to post some good news.
summer_in_TX
(2,658 posts)As the proud daughter of a lifelong member of the Typesetters Union and owner of a union printshop in Texas I love your good news!
people
(609 posts)That is wonderful news!
Thunderbeast
(3,364 posts)In Germany, unions are full partners. The "rank and file" are invested in the company's success. Union leadership sits on company boards...with transparent access to financial information.
If an assembly worker at Volkswagen sees that a process or design can be improved, they have have a line of communications to the engineers that created it. Labor, management, investors, and customers ALL benefit when an organisation is pulling on the same end of the rope.
When investors claim ALL of the power in an organization, other stakeholders lose.
leftieNanner
(14,966 posts)at the VW plant there. VW supported it, but the state convinced the workers to vote it down.
Weird.
And stupid.
Thunderbeast
(3,364 posts)if the plant unionized.
leftieNanner
(14,966 posts)But that side of the aisle believes that Unions are all bad.
The concept of partnership doesn't enter their minds.
DFW
(53,932 posts)Its ridiculous but the law permits it here. Not all is paradise or even common sense here. The former chancellor, Schröder, still works for Putins Gazprom, and Germany is desperately dependent on Russian oil and natural gas.
Can you imagine US law allowing a sitting Senator Manchin to be a member of the board of a coal mining company?
jalan48
(13,785 posts)1WorldHope
(671 posts)Proud daughter of a lifetime Union sheet metal worker!
zentrum
(9,865 posts)Proud daughter of an Artist's Union Organizer.
Chautauquas
(4,434 posts)I'm also a Wisconsinite and I was a member of AFSCME for many years before I retired, including a few terms serving on the executive board and one year as president. After experience the damage Walker did to our state and to the unions it pleases me a great deal to hear stories like yours.
Nululu
(830 posts)jlerollblues
(34 posts)I will now go through the rest of the day with this great accomplishment warming my heart. Thank you!
NJCher
(35,342 posts)I have formed unions, been a member, and am on the executive board of my teacher's union. In addition, there are other networks of teachers' unions, and I serve as a delegate on a couple of them, too.
I urge you to get involved with your union; learning about state labor law and contract negotiations can be quite rewarding. Other activities are also of interest, such as serving on a grievance committee, which is where you might hear a formally filed complaint. You work with both the union member and the company in that capacity. Then there is always lobbying state representatives.
My dad was in a union, in addition to being an entrepreneur. In fact, I think that he was in a well paid federal unon job allowed him to save enough money to open several businesses, all of which got handed down to his children.
calimary
(80,521 posts)Glad to have you here!
SAG/AFTRA member here. Congrats on IBEW Local 494!
Grumpy Old Guy
(3,110 posts)I grew up in Milwaukee. I'm also a proud, retired union member. Wisconsin was once a proud blue state. I shake my head when I think about it now. Congratulations to you for helping to make it that way again.
bluecollar2
(3,622 posts)Welcome aboard.
The next step is lies and half truths. The company will engage in stall tactics, misinformation and every tactic imaginable.
Take notes of policy changes etc, keep us in the loop. Chances are we've had to deal with similar circumstances and may be able to provide Input.
Wiscodoug
(59 posts)I appreciate your input and I will reach out and tap your knowledge. We are new to this.
druidity33
(6,428 posts)Now that you have your Union, let the hard work begin! I work in a recently Unionized small Food Co-op in the Northeast. It took us 2 years to get to the vote and it has been almost 10 years now. We are currently negotiating our 3rd contract. Have you done that part yet? We are using an uncommon technique called interest based bargaining (IBB) for our negotiations rather than normal adversarial "across the table" bargaining. We're pretty lucky that our shop voluntarily recognized the Union and has been mostly working with us in good faith. Having "open book" finances helps. Feel free to ask questions (you can PM me if there are questions you want to ask privately) from anyone here at DU. There's a lot of real smart people here! Good Luck! And check out the Baking Group here at DU!
BobTheSubgenius
(11,530 posts)I was in Local 213 (Vancouver BC) of the IBEW from the late 70s to the late 80s, in a small unit of technical specialists. Every working should have representation as excellent as we received!
BComplex
(7,964 posts)Now, if we can keep the republicans out of power, where they can destroy medicare and unions and POC from voting, we'll be doing great!
We have had an advantage that Joe Biden is really strong on Unions, and he has done things to strengthen them since he's been in office, from what I understand. We need to fight really hard to make sure these nut jobs don't dismantle everything we've worked for.
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)Unions ROCK!
onethatcares
(16,119 posts)has done the same.
Best to all of you from my heart.
markie
(22,753 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)ificandream
(9,121 posts)Jakes Progress
(11,121 posts)Unions gave us the American life that conservatives look back on wistfully, fully ignoring the fact that their party was the force that killed the unions the created that life.
Never look for reflection or logic or consistency in a republican.
Ziggysmom
(3,366 posts)Congratulations to you!
BigmanPigman
(51,368 posts)I mentioned forming a union when I was working at Macy's in the early 90s and was called into the office of management and told not to do this, even though it was on my break time. I vowed to get a job that had a union after Macy's went into Chapter 11 and I happily changed careers. I became a teacher and was the union rep at my site. I was harassed by every single principal during my career but the union supported me in every way possible. I was coughing up blood due to the black mold in the ceiling of my classroom and the union got real inspectors out and the whole building had to be demolished. The school district had previously told me to keep the door closed and use Lysol (for black mold). The union saved me.
Leith
(7,802 posts)I was born and raised in Flint, MI (I escaped before they poisoned the water) and I grew up hearing stories about the UAW sitdown strike of 1936-37. Hearing about another union shop makes me happy and proud.
If you're not singing the chorus along with the video, you're just not doing it right.
bringthePaine
(1,725 posts)Greybnk48
(10,144 posts)south of Green Bay. Good union news for sure!
AllyCat
(15,987 posts)Thank you for your good news. Love Collectivos coffee. Sounds like I need to branch out.
Skittles
(152,918 posts)*I lived in Wisconsin twice and loved it
FakeNoose
(32,202 posts)mrsadm
(1,198 posts)You and your coworkers are to be congratulated for persevering and reaching this point. This is so hard to do and you have overcome many obstacles. I am happy for you!
Emile
(21,548 posts)Roy Rolling
(6,831 posts)Calls and e-mails from the public thanking the company when a contract is signed is always a good move from the union. It makes the company happier for paying morea very artful skill in negotiations.
Welcome to DU and also a union member. (from 25 year union member)
634-5789
(4,175 posts)Bluesaph
(692 posts)You have to have the yes we can attitude and be ready to respond with good responses to all the anti union propaganda! So happy for you!!! You did it!!!
PittBlue
(4,218 posts)Javaman
(62,394 posts)Always support unions!
Former member of iatse 660
Cheers!