Media that empowers working people – that's how we build a More Perfect Union.

Don't Miss a Video!

Access our exclusive reporting and rapid response actions directly in your inbox, so you don’t miss a beat in the fight for working people nationwide.

Be a part of a community backing up independent journalism with action.

Ideas

Have a story to tell or idea to share?
Email [email protected]
© 2021 More Perfect Union Action

Together we can build power for working people.

We’re asking questions that really matter, and telling the stories of people who really need to be seen and heard.

You can support our work by donating today.

Amount

Make It Monthly

Don't Miss a Video!

Access our exclusive reporting and rapid response actions directly in your inbox, so you don’t miss a beat in the fight for working people nationwide.

Be a part of a community backing up independent journalism with action.

Chipotle Workers in Kansas Are Unionizing

If successful, workers in Lawrence would form the second unionized Chipotle store, but they face new and outrageous anti-union tactics from management.

Chiptole

Employees at a second Chipotle location are unionizing, this time in Lawrence, Kansas. The young workers are forming an independent union, and facing harsh – and likely illegal – pushback from management. A majority of workers’ signatures were collected on a petition to submit to the National Labor Relations Board, only to have that petition thrown away by management. So now they’re filing an Unfair Labor Practice as they push for a fair unionization process.

Quinlan Muller has worked at Chipotle for four years, at three different stores. “The Mass Street location is one of the most difficult stores I’ve worked at. We are understaffed, employees aren’t properly trained, and it’s not, like, the cleanest compared to other Chipotles.” For Muller, it wasn’t a hard decision. A friend of hers had organized a Starbucks in Lawrence earlier this year, and she had read about the Lansing Chipotle workers who formed the company’s first U.S. unionwith the Teamsters in August. At 21, she’s one of the older workers at the store, and is soon to graduate, which might mean leaving Chipotle. “I was like, now is the time to leave it in a better place,” says Muller.

Like her counterparts in Lansing and so many young workers at Starbucks across the country, Muller got to work collecting signatures to submit to the National Labor Relations Board. After doing her research on the NLRB, she put together her own petition. At the top, she wrote, “The current working conditions of this location are becoming increasingly intolerable, and we, the employees, are not in a dignified position to advocate for ourselves on an individual level. We believe that due to various factors, a union is necessary to effectively bargain for things such as adequate pay, tolerable working conditions, and beneficiary protections being put into place to defend our best interest.”

Earlier this month, Muller had quickly collected a majority of signatures among the store’s 25 or so employees. Management got wind of the effort, and began sending in higher-ups from their “People Experience” department. “They talked to every single person, one on one,” says Muller. They asked each employee about their union activity, and lied about what a union would mean for workers – you’ll lose your benefits, you’ll lose your tips, managers won’t be able to help.

The playbook sounds a lot like what workers faced in Lansing, says Atulya Dora-Laskey, one of the lead member organizers of the Michigan store. They even sent in the very same executive, Caroline Sherrier, an “HR Business Partner” at Chipotle and self-described “Trust Builder” and “Change Master,” per her LinkedIn page.

The big difference in Lawrence is that management found the workers’ petition before they had a chance to file it and threw it away. When Muller confronted management, they initially denied throwing the petition in the trash; “I was like, ‘So did it just magically disappear from the office?’” recalls Muller, “And [the manager] was like, ‘Um, yeah.’”

After management started union-busting, Muller reached out to the Lansing Chipotle workers and to the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, or EWOC, for help. They traded notes and made a plan to fight back.

Now, the workers are filing an unfair labor practice claim with the NLRB. They’re also re-starting the petition drive, though management’s interference has already had a chilling effect on some of the workers. Muller re-wrote the petition, and added a section:

“This is my second time drafting this petition. Initially it was easy to get support, and over 50% of employees signed it with no hesitation. Unfortunately, my employer took advantage of when I accidentally left this document at work, and a manager knowingly threw it in the garbage. By the time I went back to work to retrieve it, our regional field leader had come in and talked with every single person who signed their name and told them worst case scenarios about the consequences of forming a union. Now no one is willing to sign it again.”

“Union busting is alive and well at this Chipotle. The signatures you see on this petition are representative of the obstacles I have overcome to help this Chipotle crew take a stand for themselves. By signing this petition, I agree that I work at this Chipotle location, and I support unionizing this store.”

Related Stories

YouTube Thumbnail
Chipotle Workers Are Trying To Form The Company’s First Union
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
How To Form A Union: Two Chefs Explain
Read More

The Latest

YouTube Thumbnail
Why Barnes & Noble Workers Formed Their First Union
Read More
Workers and Activists Force Dollar General to Address Workplace Safety Issues
Read More
Gas Pipeline Deal Follows Donations to Congressional Leaders
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
This Could Be The Biggest Strike In U.S. History
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
We Talked To Bernie Sanders and Ilhan Omar About Universal School Meals
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
The ‘No Labels’ Third Party Bid That Could Sabotage Trump and Biden
Read More
Pharma & Crypto Among Winners as Revolving Door Spins From Congress
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
Medicaid Work Requirements: We Exposed the TRUE Cost of Republicans’ Top Priority
Read More
Poll: The Public Overwhelmingly Supports the Writers’ Strike
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
How America Can Stop Dangerous Train Derailments
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
How Milton Friedman Broke The American Economy
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
How Food Delivery Apps Are Trying to Kill a Worker Uprising
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
Public Education Is A Mess. This Candidate Has A Plan to Clean It Up.
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
How CEOs Manipulate the Stock Market
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
How Starbucks Just Broke the Law (Again)
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
DHL Express Workers Expose Gruesome Working Conditions
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
How Right-Wing Grifters Are Destroying Public Schools
Read More
Inside UPS’s New Business Strategy: Executive Pay Skyrockets As Infrastructure Investment Dwindles
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
Inside a Major Climate Fight in Oil Country
Read More
YouTube Thumbnail
Sun Country Airline Workers Vote To Unionize—Management Fought Back
Read More