Chipotle Shuts Doors
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (112767)
United States
July 20, 2022 8:35am CST
It's a bit of a double edged sword if you think about it. After employees at a Chipotle store in Maine filed a petition to unionize, the company made the decision to permanently close the store.
On the surface I think it is the right decision. Unions really serve no real purpose anymore and do less to protect workers than most people believe. I won't go into the reasons why as it is not the scope of this post.
Just take my word for it, having been in both union and non-union shops, I have always done better in non-union shops.
But the decision may come with some pushback. If there are other stores with employees who may have been interested in seeking out unionizing, we may see walk-outs at other stores.
At the same time, the unions themselves may push harder having it in mind that "Chipotle can't close ALL of their stores." Petitions could come up at many other locations, leaving Chipotle at the helm of an even tougher decision that the one they had to make in Maine.
It will no doubt at least be an interesting thing to see if this story develops further. We are definitely living in interesting times when it comes to anything labor related these days.
4 people like this
5 responses
@porwest (112767)
• United States
20 Jul 22
@NJChicaa Well, we can differ on our thoughts about unions, but not about wages and benefits of course. You prefer a union. But that does not mean it offers more. I can even use teachers as a case in point. Private school teachers are paid more and have better benefits. It's just a fact.
@porwest (112767)
• United States
20 Jul 22
They would be better off not to in my opinion. Usually when you are in a union, especially the food and retail unions, non-union shops offer better wages and better benefits. Case in point, around here Schnuck's grocery store was union and Shop n' Save was non-union. Starting wages were higher at Shop n' save, matched more on employee 401k plans, had cheaper health benefits and so on and so forth.
Not always the case. But I have worked in two union shops in my working life. Nestlé and Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. In both cases my benefits were less than what I would have gotten in a non-union shop.
At Coca-Cola we were a split shop. Production was non-union and the warehouse side was union. Our pay and benefits were remarkably better on the production side which was non-union.
@moffittjc (128830)
• Gainesville, Florida
21 Jul 22
Unionizing one location seems rather pointless, for the reason you pointed out. Based on the same reasons you identified in your experiences with unions, I have had the same experiences, so I’m not in favor of unions at all either. But if they’re going to unionize, go big or go home. Meaning try to unionize the whole company, not one location.
1 person likes this
@porwest (112767)
• United States
21 Jul 22
I am not even sure why unions are gaining in popularity among employees again. I mean, under Trump (not to make this a political discussion) he proved one thing...
If the economy is good and there is a high demand for workers, wages go up naturally as do the benefits that are offered to attract and retain good talent.
This happened under his watch, and big time.
Everyone thought he was trying to be thoughtless when he railed against the $15 forced minimum wage argument when he was campaigning. His message was misunderstood. What he made clear was that you don't have to force raising the minimum wage. You just have to make it so that conditions support the higher wages.
We have fast food restaurants now offering wages upwards of $15 with sign on bonuses and other benefits—what's the labor union needed for I wonder when the natural forces of competition and a wide open labor market is raising wages and lifting benefits, and can probably do it better than the unions could without crippling the businesses and actually hurting the employees in the end?
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222285)
• United States
21 Jul 22
The union was always good to my hubby; but it certainly offers a challenge at the Chipotle stores. I hope they can figure it out.
1 person likes this
@yoalldudes (35030)
• Philippines
21 Jul 22
It is unfolding who will have the bargaining power.
1 person likes this
