Madison Sourdough’s union has seen only “tiny bites of progress” toward a contract

A story originally published by Tone Madison on September 13, 2023.

Hi friends! Spring semester started this week (if you didn’t know, I’m in journalism school) so for paid subscribers,

I’m republishing a piece I wrote for Tone Madison, a local independent publication that covers politics and culture on September 13, 2023.

I wanted to write this piece because winning a union vote is only the first step of unionizing—getting your employer to actually sit down and sign a contract an entirely incredibly difficult and is often where so many unions hit a snag. As I write this, over 380 Starbucks stores, representing 9,000+ workers, have voted to unionize, and not a single store has a contract. We have to keep paying attention beyond the initial vote.

Check out Tone, especially if you live in Madison—if you don’t, still check out Tone, but also support your local independent publications. And if you want to support this particular publication, please consider upgrading your subscription from a free to a paid model:

As negotiations continue to stall, workers filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge, accusing management of not bargaining in good faith.