Chipotle Blacklists Union Workers
When Hump Day News last reported on Chipotle in July it was because the company had shut down an Augusta, Maine location in a ham-fisted response to ongoing unionization efforts.
The company claimed it shut down the location due to “staffing issues.”
Aaron Gregg of The Washington Post provides a good breakdown of the types and numbers of stores Chipotle has closed in the recent past, all but saying that the company had no legitimate economics-based reason to shutter the Maine location. SEIU helped put together a petition to lobby Chipotle to reopen the location.
Brandi McNease, former Chipotle worker at the location, spoke to WMTW 8:
"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?"
Now Chipotle is back in the news on multiple counts and not for good reasons.
First item on the agenda, Chipotle is illegally blacklisting employees who have worked at previous locations with union activity. News Center Maine reported on the development based on a press release from the Maine AFL-CIO:
According to the release, workers from the Augusta Chipotle store discovered the blacklisting through applying to other job openings at different Maine Chipotle locations. When attempting to apply, workers discovered they were locked out from using the email addresses the company already had on file.
The release explains the following scenario that Brandi McNease, a former Chipotle employee at the Augusta location, encountered when attempting to apply to a different position at a different Maine Chipotle location:
"Brandi McNease, the lead organizer of the Augusta workers, then filled out the application using a different email address. This time, she was able to apply, and the Auburn store promptly scheduled her for an interview the following day, August 4. But, before McNease could go for the interview, that morning she received a call from the manager of the Auburn, Maine store.
"The manager told McNease that the regional manager, Jarolin Maldonado, had directed her not to interview McNease because the union leader supposedly had prior 'attendance problems.' The manager further told McNease that she didn’t mean to get her hopes up about coming back, but didn’t know that 'you were part of that group.'"
McNease denied the accusations about her attendance problems, according to the release.
“I never was counseled, let alone disciplined, for any attendance issues,” McNease said in the release. “In fact, on the day that Chipotle announced it was closing the Augusta, Maine restaurant, Jarolin Maldonado called me and specifically reassured me that I was eligible for rehire.”
The union busting allegations have been made official in charges added to the NLRB filings:
8(a)(3) Discharge (Including Layoff and Refusal to Hire (not salting))
8(a)(1) Concerted Activities (Retaliation, Discharge, Discipline)
Second item on the agenda, Chipotle was hit with a 20 million dollar payout in settlement with New York City over violating the labor rights of its workers. Noam Scheiber of the NYT reported on August 9:
New York City said Tuesday that it had reached a settlement potentially worth more than $20 million with the fast-food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill over violations of worker protection laws, the largest settlement of its kind in the city’s history.
The action, affecting about 13,000 workers, sends a message “that we won’t stand by when workers’ rights are violated,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
Labor rights are clearly not top priority at Chipotle. While it’s heartening to see NYC slap Chipotle with a $20M wake-up call, it’s hardly a blip on the radar for a company that grossed $1.832B last year (6/21-6/22) and netted $.756B in the same time period. Furthermore, that’s part of a continual revenue increase in recent years. Like many corporations, Chipotle did GREAT during the pandemic, unlike its frontline workers. To see real change Chipotle is going to need a little more than a financial slap on the wrist. Stay tuned for the results of the charges filed with the NLRB…
