Almost two years ago to the day, FairWave Specialty Coffee Collective acquired Milwaukee’s Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co. At the time, they were the 10th brand in the Kansas City-based, private-equity backed coffee conglomerate that now boasts 12 brands, including most recently Black & White Coffee Roasters in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In April of this year, workers at Anodyne decided to join the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Union (MASH) and requested FairWave voluntarily recognize the union, which they declined to do.
Now, two unanimous showings of union support later, and FairWave is challenging the results, alleging that “ineligible employees voted in the election, encouraged union effort, and its employees were ‘intimidated.’”
As reported by Milwaukee’s WUWM, voting in a National Labor Relations Board election took place earlier this month, with Anodyne workers voting 37–0 in favor of unionizing. The vote comes after all 50 out of 50 eligible Anodyne employees signed union membership cards, according to MASH president Peter Rickman.
The reasons workers gave for wanting to join a union include cold brew production being moved to Kansas City, decreased pay rates for new hires, filling managerial positions externally, and a lack of input in decision making.
After the June 4th vote with the NLRB, FairWave filed to nullify the results, stating that five ‘statutory supervisors’ encouraged unionization, and called into question these employees’ ability to be eligible for union membership” as well as alleging that “a union representative ‘attempted to intimidate’ and surveilled one of FairWave’s employees.”
In response to the intimidation claim, MASH lawyer Matt Bruenig states, “I am being fully straight forward with you when I say I have yet to figure out what they’re talking about.” He also challenges the allegation against statutory supervisors, noting that in order to be considered as such, they’d have to “have the ability to unilaterally perform specific actions like hiring, firing or promoting employees.” Bruenig calls the challenge a stall tactic.
Per WUWM, FairWave has not responded to requests for comment as well as declined an interview request ahead of the election.
A hearing is scheduled with the NLRB next week, who will decide if the results stand or if a new vote is necessary.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
