Another lone restaurant is facing a unionization vote by its employees, but this operation has little in common with the New Age-y coffee cafes whose staffs have recently announced their intention to organize.
This time, staff members are voting on whether to remain unionized at The Italian Village, a family-owned landmark that’s been serving up classic Italian fare in downtown Chicago for 94 years.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled Thursday that a secret ballot be held at the restaurant on Oct. 22 to determine if employees continue to be represented by a local chapter of Unite Here, which has represented the workers for decades, according to proprietor Jonathan Capitanini.
The NLRB estimates that 10 individuals are eligible to vote, meaning that only six yes votes are needed to maintain representation by Unite Here.
Management says that the vote did not arise from any conflicts with the staff or the union, and that few of its long-tenured team are still members of Unite Here. The vote was apparently sought by the workers, not the restaurant's owners and management.
The effort to keep Italian Village unionized follows a sudden spate of attempts to organize coffee shops. The campaigns succeeded in organizing the workforces of Colectivo Coffee in Madison, Wisc., Spot On Coffee in Buffalo, N.Y., and Progressive Coffee in the Boston area.
Still underway are efforts to organize four-unit Darwin’s in Cambridge, Mass., and Starbucks units in Buffalo.
Darwin’s management has said it will voluntarily agree to be unionized if a majority of employees vote to be represented by Unite Here.
The NLRB held hearings last week on whether the Starbucks vote in Buffalo would cover the employees of just three stores or all 450 partners who work at the chain’s 20 units in the market. A decision from the federal regulatory agency is expected shortly.
Union observers and restaurant operators say it’s no coincidence that employees are trying to organize coffee operations. According to their theory, many of the young people working for java brands were introduced to social activism during watershed political developments in the last few years, including the murder of George Floyd. They contend that the demographics of the brands’ workforces and the participants in recent political protests greatly overlap, and those young people want a say in all matters affecting their lives, including their jobs.
No reason was given in the NLRB’s vote announcement about why Italian Village’s employees are voting now on continuing their membership in a Unite Here chapter.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that eligible workers are looking to join Unite Here. The vote is actually on whether to continue the relationship.
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