By a vote of 11 to 3 with two contested ballots, workers at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Lansing, MI. voted to form a union on August 25th. An 18-year-old employee commented after the election, “This is a gigantic first step towards forming a union and improving the lives of future generations.”
It is interesting that recently companies with a reputation for high wages and worker benefits have been impacted by retail workers attempting to establish unions. Starbucks, Amazon and Trader Joe’s have all experienced pressure.
According to Laurie Schalow, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Chipotle, “Our employees are our greatest asset and we are committed to listening to their needs and continue to improve on their workplace experience.” She added, “We are disappointed that the employees at our Lansing, MI. restaurant chose to have a third party speak on their behalf because we continue to believe that working directly together is best for our employees.”
Given these conflicting statements there must be some disconnect between Chipotle corporate management and their restaurant workers. The major complaints included under-scheduling, a low basic wage rate and demands to fill more than one position during a shift.
The last complaint may have some public health implications since preparing food and operating cash registers or serving in drive-throughs are essentially incompatible with acceptable hygienic practices, even with frequent changing of gloves. Given past problems relating to foodborne disease outbreaks, the management at Chipotle should be extremely cognizant of organizational and operational factors that may contribute to contamination of servings of uncooked food and the role of employee turnover and discontent.
Chipotle is currently consulting with labor specialists on unionization and working conditions. The Company may come under legal scrutiny if any action is taken that could be construed as union busting. Chipotle recently closed a store in Augusta, ME. when workers filed for a union election. Employees of the Company generally represent a young, educated and politically active cohort.
According to Dr. John Logan of San Francisco State University, workers will use the resources of the Federal government, including the National Labor Relations Board and will engender public sentiment using the internet. He considers that employees will achieve either a material improvement in working conditions through negotiations or through a union that would be less acceptable to Chipotle corporate management.