Si se puede! The Berkeley Bowl has finally unionized.
Its been a long fight to get worker-friendly arugula in the no-nukes City by the East Bay. When talk of unionizing first arose, management began subtle anti-union tactics, like flyers that said little cards [for union membership], big trouble, and then management fired an organizer for, purportedly, buying beans at too low a bulk rate. Another organizer was fired as well. Unsurprisingly, the first vote to unionize went down in defeat about nine months ago.
Then, however, the union filed a protest with the National Labor Relations Board, which agreed to hold a hearing about the tactics used by management to defeat the union drive. Just days before the hearing was to go forward, the union and management struck a deal. Under the new deal, benefits and wages will increase, the two fired employees will return, and the United Food and Commercial Workers union will represent the workers in negotiations.
