Partners: Unions, NAACP, Michigan Citizen Action, Blue Green Alliance
Bakers at Panera Bread in Kalamazoo and other southwestern Michigan locations wanted a union, but their employer was fighting back with a vicious anti-union campaign. A coalition of CWA and other union members, the NAACP, Blue Green Alliance and Michigan Citizen Action stood with the Panera workers through the long fight for union recognition. It took more than a year, and a national campaign to make sure workers had a fully functioning National Labor Relations Board to turn to, but Panera recognized the workers’ union, the Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, and is bargaining with workers for a first contract.
In March 2012, despite months of management intimidation, Panera workers at several Michigan locations voted by a 66 percent vote for their union. Panera management refused to recognize the union, despite an order from the National Labor Relations Board.
The Panera franchise stepped up its intimidation of workers, harassing union supporters, cutting their hours and imposing arbitrary work rules. Then it fired one of the leading union activists,
Kyle Schilling.
CWA locals and members in Michigan and coalition partners joined with Panera workers at rallies and pickets in front of store locations in southwestern, Michigan pushing management to recognize the union.
As part of the Fix the Senate Now fight, the coalition also pushed their two U.S. Senators to support the nominations of five members to the NLRB, to put an end to corporate attacks on the validity of the Board and to make sure that workers have a place to turn to for justice in the workplace. Activists rallied outside the Michigan offices of Senators Stabenow and Levin, and delivered petitions with 1,000 signatures calling for a fully functioning NLRB.
With a five-member NLRB in place, workers won their union and those harmed by the company were awarded back pay.