Irene Koo
The union effort at Compliments Only is over after the Dupont Circle sandwich shop’s owners refused to recognize their workers’ union and lead organizers resigned, two former employees say.
Owners Emily Cipes and Pete Sitcov avoided giving a straight answer when multiple workers requested voluntarily recognition over the summer.
Then, in August, the owners explicitly said no to voluntarily recognition, according to Critter Woodward and Zach Slavin, the former employees and lead union organizers. One of the workers shared a screenshot of an email from the owners that confirms they would not recognize a union at Compliments Only. They also said in the email that they would not retaliate against workers if they filed for a union election through the National Labor Relations Board.
Sitcov tells DCist/WAMU that they encouraged workers to file for a union election if they want to have a union representative. “We never tried to stop them for doing anything,” he says.
He declined to explain why he and Cipes declined to recognize the union, which would near-immediately jumpstart negotiations over wages and workplace practices. He says none of the union organizers work at the sandwich shop anymore, so it’s a moot point.
“It’s all over. And it’s in the past and we can leave it there,” Sitcov says.
Workers ultimately decided against filing for an election because of how long the process would take, Woodward and Slavin explain. The election process, between the filing and...
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