Baristas at four La Colombe Coffee Roasters stores in Chicago recently joined UFCW Local 881. The 45 hard-working women and men voted to join our union family because they were concerned about staffing, scheduling and other day-to-day operations at the stores and wanted a voice in the workplace. This organizing win is part of the national La Colombe Union organizing campaign.
The four La Colombe Coffee Roasters stores are located on E. Elm Street, W. Randolph Street, Armitage Avenue and N. Clark Street. With this organizing win, UFCW Local 881 now represents four out of the five La Colombe Coffee Roasters stores in Chicago.
“I think I speak for everyone unionizing at La Colombe that we aren’t just thinking about ourselves, but we’re thinking about a much larger movement,” said Elise Vazquez, a barista at La Colombe store on E. Elm Street, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.
In addition to the four stores in Chicago, the UFCW also represents workers at the La Colombe Coffee Roasters Chinatown location in Washington, D.C., who were the first La Colombe Coffee Roasters workers in the country to unionize with UFCW Local 400.