Workers at Hampden coffee shop Common Ground Cafe voted to unionize last week, according to a news release from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27.
The coffee shop, bakery and cafe reopened in 2023 as a worker-owned cooperative, months after it was shuttered by its previous owners.
After the shop became a cooperative, the 19 workers “achieved many of the original union demands, proving the power of worker solidarity,” according to the news release. But the workers still wanted to unionize.
“Recognizing the importance of union affiliation for long-term workplace benefits, protections, and political power, the workers remained in conversation with UFCW Local 27,” read the news release.
The workers voted on Dec. 18 to join 17,000 other UFCW union workers in Maryland and 1.2 million UFCW workers internationally. The vote “demonstrates the potential for innovative labor partnerships, even within worker-owned cooperatives,” according to the UFCW news release.
In a statement, Jason Chorpenning, president of UFCW Local 27, called the union drive “an extraordinary example of what happens when workers come together and demand better for themselves, their coworkers, and their communities.”
“The workers of Common Ground Cafe have shown incredible determination, turning adversity into opportunity,” he wrote. “By affiliating with UFCW Local 27, they are not just improving their workplace but setting an inspiring precedent for others in the service industry.”
The Common Ground workers began their effort to unionize in December 2022, according to the news release. But the 25-year-old coffee shop closed in July 2023, leaving all of the workers jobless with about 12 hours notice, the release stated.
The Baltimore coffee shop’s vote comes amid a growing strike at national coffee chain Starbucks. Baristas at dozens of Starbucks stores around the country are on strike, according to the Associated Press, including Brooklyn and Long Island in New York, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
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