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Antnee83 t1_jdvkgjo wrote

> As part of the agreement, workers who were on payroll when Chipotle closed its store at the Marketplace in Augusta will each receive between $5,800 and $21,000 depending on the number of hours they worked and their pay rate, among other factors. The company must also offer “preferential rehiring” to all Augusta employees at its other Maine locations for one year, according to the Maine AFL-CIO.

There really needs to be harsher repercussions. Big box stores all but shout through a megaphone during their orientations that they will do the same thing if the get a whiff of unionization.

The punishment needs to be severe enough that it can't be filed away as an operating cost.

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3490goat t1_jdw9sm5 wrote

When the cost of paying a fine is cheaper than the alternative, then it’s just a cost of doing business.

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Antnee83 t1_jdwaix4 wrote

That's what I'm getting at. I mean you can pick the issue out of a hat- whatever the punishment is for a corporation, it's wildly out of balance for what a person would get.

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3490goat t1_jdwehxt wrote

Yeah, a lot of the laws were made many years ago and the fines have stayed constant. We have corporate fines in 1970’s dollars that conflict with 2020’s profits. And of course current profits win out

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HumpSlackWails t1_jdvmde9 wrote

Yeah, this will stop them!

But don't worry, they can RELOCATE on their less-than-living wages to take advantage of that preferential hiring!

If it doesn't hurt it won't deter. Should have been 100k on top of other damages, per person.

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NoPossibility t1_jdvrr0j wrote

I’m sure chipotle sees $250k and a lost store as a drop in the bucket compared to workers gaining steam towards unionization across the country. Fine is abysmally low for what they did.

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ppitm t1_jdwx2ax wrote

$250k is probably what they would have spent on anti-union consultants for a few stores.

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10printman t1_jdvpvms wrote

My stepson is going to be part of this settlement. He got a job there right when they started hiring people to reopen. He worked maybe 3 or 4 weeks before they shutdown earning minimum wage. Be interesting to see how much he's going to get...

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Seyword t1_jdxvdew wrote

$350

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10printman t1_jdy0krk wrote

Probably... he's only 17 so getting $5200 will be the most money he's had at one time. He only worked about 20 hours a week but I think most everyone that was working there at the time was doing about 20 hours. All the workers were doing a month of training preparing to open.

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PowerProgrammer2020 t1_jdvxu40 wrote

good, the company thought you could break federal laws in backwoods Maine.

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evolvolution t1_jdw24s6 wrote

Augusta is backwoods maine?

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PowerProgrammer2020 t1_jdw39vb wrote

im making a joke they thought it was "backwoods" when they closed the store they said it was to rural.

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evolvolution t1_jdw51rk wrote

Yeah that’s what I figured. I’m sure the fine folks in your example couldn’t point to Maine on a map.

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keanenottheband t1_jdvumdg wrote

What a joke of a slap on the wrist. You can't spell Chipotle without e coli

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cepheus42 t1_jdwtfew wrote

This is such wonderful news, and great for the union movement. I hope more service industry places unionize and we keep this momentum going.

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kaozennrk t1_jdws5lh wrote

We need employee customer partnership unions. Somebody tell me if this concept already exists. Each employee or union organizes a pledge of sympathetic customers in the local area that agree to boycott a brand or location as a silent strike. When the union or employee organization votes for a customer strike then the group of pledged customers will not shop, buy or engage with service from the company the employees work for. Because most customers are workers too and the company strategy is a divide and conquer for profit deal. I remember Market Basket had a strike and the sympathetic customer boycotted the stores and it really worked.

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thesilversverker t1_jdx0pum wrote

Isn't that just a picket line? Or are you proposing the change.org version, so that everyone would feel good but avoid any actual change?

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kaozennrk t1_jdxyas8 wrote

No, not a picket line. Organized customer boycotts.

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Dimmer06 t1_jdydmjw wrote

This does happen a lot already. As the other commenter mentioned most picket lines are trying to get the public not to buy from the company. Sometimes unions also call for boycotts.

These folks didn't really have the broad base of support or the funding to do that effectively though. That's one of the big risks of forming an independent union.

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figment1979 t1_jdxhx6r wrote

So I’ll first say that it sure beats “nothing”, so good for the workers.

But maybe someday it’ll come out why the workers at this location were so excited to work for a place that, according to reports:

-Had inept management on many levels

-wasn’t paying workers on time (or at all?)

-Had severe safety issues like gas leaks in the kitchen

-Was always short-staffed, forcing employees to work WAY more than their scheduled hours

I mean, what exactly was the draw of working there anyway? Were they forced beyond their own free will?

Something just does not add up.

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deenaleen t1_jdxv2uh wrote

....I think that's why they tried to form a union?

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blackwillowspy t1_jdy7407 wrote

yeah, blame the workers desperate for a job bub

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figment1979 t1_jdz7uid wrote

I didn't "blame" anybody - re-read my very first sentence.

I'm asking why - during a time when every single business on the planet was desperate for help and paying just as much as (if not more than) the clowns at Chipotle were paying their employees - why these employees thought continuing to work there despite the deplorable conditions was their best option.

I mean, I don't know about you and your financial life, but if I'm at ANY job where I'm not getting paid on time or at all, I'm outta there real fast. At the end of the day, I need to work to get paid. I'm not doing it out of the goodness of my heart.

Then you add on those other conditions that were reported that made working there "less than ideal", and for me it just doesn't add up. I'm glad the workers got compensation for their troubles, but now tell us what was REALLY going on there, why it was such an amazing place to work under those conditions I stated above. THAT's what I'm really interested to find out and will continue to ask. It makes zero sense to me.

Edit to add: And don't get me wrong, I'm not at all anti-union - I have a public sector union job and am a paying member of the union as a matter of fact - and I 100% support the rights of these workers to unionize and they deserve every cent of compensation they can get from Chipotle for having gone through this entire ordeal.

None of that changes the fact that there were very strange things happening here, WAY before the union-busting tactics.

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ninjasquirrelarmy t1_jdzh9oh wrote

Have you applied for a job recently? Every place says that they are hiring, but that is just to placate the overworked staff they currently have. ‘Look we’re trying, no one wants to work anymore!’ I know many people job hunting that have filled out dozens of applications only to get zero calls for interviews.

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figment1979 t1_jdzi3s8 wrote

But all this garbage with Chipotle was happening during the pandemic, when businesses WERE actually hiring people off the street because they desperately needed the help. At that time, you could have pretty much walked in to anywhere you wanted to work (and not just fast food places or the like) and they'd hire you in an instant. I'm talking 2020 and 2021, possibly even the beginning of 2022.

Thankfully I'm in a job where I don't need to worry about wanting to apply for another one, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that what you described is happening right now. It wasn't when the bad conditions at Chipotle started.

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ErnieJohn t1_jdwbtz0 wrote

I'm confused maybe someone can enlighten me. Why even unionize? It's not skilled labor it's a fast food assembly line.
I don't mean to sound rude but you're scooping beans and throwing cheese n rice on a tortilla.

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dogwithaknife t1_jdwggv5 wrote

It’s always strange to me to see people dismissing food service as “easy work” rather than the important work of feeding people in a safe, and clean environment. If it was not for unionization efforts in the early 20th century, we wouldn’t have food safety standards as well as general workplace safety laws. There wouldn’t be rules around gloves, hand washing, food storage, cleaning equipment, not to mention all the sharp or hot instruments and tools they use throughout the day. On top of all of that, they need to be paid a living wage so they give a shit to follow the rules around keeping the kitchen clean. These are skills, between proper food storage and preparation, and cleaning. Never mind that basic math, customer service, responsibility prioritization are all skills. Food service is in no way “unskilled labor.”

People who work in food service are feeding you. Chipotle workers are not just “throwing cheese and rice into a tortilla” they are preparing meat and dairy (two biggest food safety concerns in any kitchen), they’re cleaning the instruments between use, they’re handling and cleaning produce as well as the floors and other surfaces. You want them to have clean, safe environments so you don’t get sick from said food. You want them to know what to use to clean their cooking equipment versus the bathroom. How long meat can be in the fridge before it gets thrown out. Corporations will never ever prioritize those rules because those rules cost money which eats into their profits. Employees coming together for collective bargaining and unionization is how we get these rules that make our lives a lot safer and healthier. A lot of people struggled and died for these laws to take place, and unfortunately we still need to defend them.

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yawnfactory t1_jdwds3d wrote

The employees were responding to understaffing, dangerous work conditions, undertraining, and lack of communication or care from management.

If you're at the point you're planning to quit the job, why not try to make it better for everyone? When you leave a job that isn't treating it's workers as they should, they will just hire someone new, treat them the same, and the cycle will continue.

Unionizing is hard, but is work for the greater good.

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Sufficient_Risk1684 t1_jdwlk30 wrote

All good reasons to unionize, but also damn good reasons to close a business. I don't see it being reasonable to be able to force a failed business location staying open by having a union vote.

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Chimpbot t1_jdwlf8g wrote

The next time you're at any place serving food, be sure to tell the folks preparing your food about your opinions on the matter.

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cepheus42 t1_jdwtw3b wrote

Union workers and union shops come in all types. It's not just highly skilled trades that require or benefit from unions. The service industry was LONG overdue for unionization given the low pay and abuse of workers.

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Antnee83 t1_jdzjg4k wrote

I see this all the time, this idea that only "skilled" labor is worth anything (and as if dealing with customers without gouging their eyes out isn't a skill)

Labor is labor. There is no company without those workers. There's no profit without them. They are the value. Why should the value they generate only go to the top?

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PGids t1_jdwfj88 wrote

The majority of people I see in here screaming about unionization don’t strike me as the type that have ever been union labor.

How do I know that? They seem to think being in a local is the silver bullet cure for everything negative they see in their current employer and fail to realize that 85% of the time, union-company negotiations move at a glacial pace and you typically achieve half of what you expect too. See: the nurses at Maine Med who’s CBA allowed them to be stripped of PTO for jury duty, bereavement and military service. Someone on the union side dropped a huge fuckin ball on that one

Being in a union absolutely does have its pros and I won’t deny that but people act like it’s sunshine and rainbows 100% of the time

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Dimmer06 t1_jdwmaem wrote

>who’s CBA allowed them to be stripped of PTO for jury duty, bereavement and military service.

This is false. The Hospital tried to take them away then gave them back (including retroactively) because it was blatantly a violation of labor law for them to take those benefits.

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PGids t1_jdwu8u8 wrote

I stand corrected; that happened about a month ago. Figured that would have made the news/social media rounds like the story of them loosing them did

They quite literally left off the CBA as a paid benefit though. There is no labor law stating any that has to be paid by a private employer; only time off given without penalty. I’m not saying it wasnt a real dick move to take those benefits, just to be clear.

This article states it was straight up forgotten. Every other article makes statements of negotiation which means a memorandum of agreement was drafted and signed which means it wasn’t on the original contract because someone fucked up

I sit in on similar meets a few times a month as a union employee, for what it’s worth.

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cepheus42 t1_jdwuaq7 wrote

And yet the union movement is growing. Why? Because government is clearly not going to do shit to protect workers, so workers are turning back to unions. Because slow progress feels better than no progress.

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PGids t1_jdwv5ie wrote

I never said it was a bad thing that people want to be in unions. I’ve been in two IAM locals and I’m in USW now.

I was trying to get at the fact that the expectations of some are waaaaay higher than they should be

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