The growing wave of food service industry unionization efforts across the country continues: Workers at a Chipotle location in Lansing, Michigan voted to unionize last week, establishing the first union in the store’s 3,000 locations, according to a press release from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Motivating unionization efforts at this location are low wages, too few hours, and tasks “outside their normal responsibilities,” according to the Washington Post, with some workers at the location earning $13 an hour. (While the minimum wage in Michigan is currently $9.87, $15.65 is considered a living wage for a single adult with no children in Lansing, according to the Living Wage Calculator.)
“In addition to the security of a powerful Teamster contract, workers are forming a union to improve their work schedules, increase wages, and gain the respect from management that they’ve rightfully earned,” the release reads. It also notes that, with the company pulling in $7.5 billion in revenue last year — a 26 percent increase year-over-year from 2020 — Chipotle can afford to meet its workers’ demands.
“At Chipotle, our employees are our greatest asset, and we are committed to listening to their needs and continuing to improve upon their workplace experience,” as Chipotle’s chief corporate affairs officer Laurie Schalow said in a statement. “We’re disappointed that the employees at our Lansing, MI restaurant chose to have a third party speak on their behalf because we...
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