Workers Had Hoped To Form The First Union At A Chipotle Mexican Grill.
The Company Closed Their Restaurant And Terminated Their Jobs This Week.
Augusta, Maine – Workers who had hoped to form the first union at a Chipotle Mexican Grill believe the company closed their restaurant and terminated their jobs this week, because they were poised to form the first union among the chain’s 3,000 establishments.
Chipotle closed its Augusta restaurant on Tuesday after two-thirds of its employees had pledged to form an independent union, Chipotle United, and just two-and-a-half hours before workers were scheduled to meet with the National Labor Relations Board about their union election.
“They knew they would lose,” Brandi McNease, who worked the Augusta restaurant for more than three years and led the union drive, said in an interview Friday. “I was just so angry. No. We had a fair fight going. We were doing things the right way, and you just took your bat and ball and went home?
“McNease said she believes the abrupt closure without warning communicated by a company email was meant to quash the union drive.
McNease said, “They could not have a unionized Chipotle store, because they’ve seen saw what Starbucks has done, and they’re scared.”
A [Starbucks in Biddeford earlier this month](https://www.wmtw.com/article/biddeford-starbucks-employees-union/40617142) became the first of the coffee chain’s locations in Maine to form a union.
At the Augusta Chipotle, 14 of the 18 employees had signed union cards, more than the 30% required to trigger the NLRB election meeting.
McNease said chronic understaffing had been employees’ main gripe, for example, opening the restaurant with only three or four employees, below the required seven, or closing the restaurant early and causing night shift workers to lose hours and income.
McNease said, “We were complaining about them not following their own rules and regulations and putting us in positions where we had to cut corners.
“At the store on Friday, the signs were down. A paper taped on the front door said the location is permanently closed.
Ethan Watts was among the terminated workers who picked up his last paycheck, including severance pay, on Friday.
Watts said the lack of staff resulted in slower service that caused customer lines to reach the door almost every day.
“It was a little stressful – most of the time we were understaffed and overworked,” Watts said. “And it’s not just about me at that point. It’s about watching your other coworkers get frustrated, get angry, go home, be tired all the time.”
McNease pointed to what she described as lapses in training and safety at the Augusta location as fueling the union drive.
“We had a cheese shredder without an emergency off switch,” McNease said. “Broken machinery. We had gas leaks where the equipment burst into flames. We worked through a gas leak for two weeks with our manager telling us that it wasn’t a gas leak, and then one day they turned the grill on, and flames started shooting out of it.”
Portland attorney Jeff Young, who is representing the workers, said he had filed a formal complaint with the NLRB alleging illegal retaliation.
Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree – the restaurant is in her district – has called on the NLRB to investigate.
Democratic Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau called the decision to close the Augusta Chipotle “a blatant union-busting practice” showing the company is “trying to instill fear and using this Maine store as an example.”
But the company says it had been simply unable to find adequate staff or managers for the restaurant, which caused it to be closed for a month before the permanent closure.
Chipotle Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Laurie Schalow said in a written statement, “Closing the Chipotle restaurant in Augusta, Maine, has nothing to do with union activity. Our operational management reviewed this situation as it would any other restaurant with these unique staffing challenges. Chipotle respects our employees’ rights to organize under the National Labor Relations Act.”
Schalow said the employees will also receive outplacement assistance.
Chipotle has other restaurants an hour’s drive from Augusta, in Bangor and Portland, but the laid-off workers said the company had not offered them an opportunity to work at those locations.
The company did not respond to questions asking why, and a spokeswoman said no one was available for an interview on Friday.