Biscuit World workers say no to 1st W.Va. fast-food union

An employee-led effort to unionize a franchise of Tudor’s Biscuit World in West Virginia has failed

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Workers at a West Virginia franchise of a regional fast-food restaurant on Tuesday rejected efforts to form a union that would have been the first its kind in West Virginia.

The effort was part of a larger national trend of organizing among retail and food service workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mood was somber at the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400 office in Charleston, where pro-union workers from the Tudor's franchise in Elkview watched as a National Labor Relations Board official counted ballots over a Zoom call and anounced that employees had rejected the union by a vote of 7-5. Roughly two dozen people work at the franchise. Of the 20 workers eligible to vote, 14 did so. Two ballots were challenged and not counted.

“It's disheartening,” said employee Cynthia Nicholson, who wore a UFCW Local scarf. “We’re going to keep fighting because you just cannot let this injustice go on. ... That battle is not over yet.”