PORTLAND, Maine — Barista and retail employees at Coffee By Design’s three city locations requested voluntary recognition of a new union on Tuesday.
Nearly 90 percent of roughly 20 workers signed union cards with Local 327 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America. The local currently represents about 300 other Maine office, retail and administrative workers.
Coffee By Design employees cited low pay, uneven hours and inconsistent benefits as reasons for organizing. Workers also expressed a desire for more of a say in setting company policies.
The company, which also retails and wholesales its coffees, was founded in Portland in 1994. On Monday, Coffee By Design announced it was shuttering its Congress Street location for the foreseeable future due to a lack of workers. In the meantime, management was offering the location’s remaining staff hours at the company’s India Street and Diamond Street coffeehouses in the meantime.
Coffee By Design owner Mary Allen Lindeman was a vocal opponent of a 2022 referendum which would have increased Portland’s minimum wage to $18 per hour, while eliminating the sub-minimum tipped wage.
Jason Shedlock, an organizer for Local 327, said he thought the unionization effort’s improved wage and benefits goals would help Coffee By Design attract more workers.
“This is a chance for Coffee By Design to be industry leaders and recognize our union, voluntarily,” Shedlock said. “It would be a good business decision for them.”
In recent years, other Maine coffee shop workers have attempted to unionize, with mixed results. A Portland Starbucks and the Little Dog Coffee Shop in Brunswick both closed down after their employees organized. Biddeford’s Starbucks is currently the only unionized coffee shop in the state.
Lindemann didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment or whether she planned to voluntarily recognize the union.
Shedlock said, with the high number of workers who signed union cards, he was confident employees would win their union even if Lindemann declined recognition and it came to a vote.
“We’ll have a union, one way or the other,” he said.
