Organizing a Union in the Disorganized World of Small Restaurants

The stresses of the pandemic and the demands for equity have moved many independent-restaurant workers to start labor-union drives. Will they get results?

Worried about returning to work during a pandemic and galvanized by the racial-justice protests throughout their city, 17 cocktail-room employees at Tattersall Distilling in Minneapolis told the owners during a staff meeting in June 2020 that they intended to form a union. They wanted personal protective equipment, overtime pay and antiracism training. “We all felt a sense of urgency and, I mean, legitimate fear,” said Krystle D’Alencar, a bartender and server. “Many of us, including me, live paycheck to paycheck.” The owners, Jon Kreidler and Dan Oskey, pushed back on Tattersall’s social media accounts: “We don’t believe a union is necessary, nor is it in the best interest of our employees or our company.”