Lakefront Brewery Service Workers Organizing Union

Lakefront Brewery. Photo taken February 9th, 2019 by Carl Baehr.

Service workers at Lakefront Brewery are organizing a union.

Service workers in the front and back of house at the brewery — including servers, line cooks, dishwashers, tour guides and hosts — have organized a union with Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH) and are seeking recognition from Lakefront.

“My co-workers and I formed a union to create a level playing field with management so we can address workplace issues with confidence the company will actually hear the voices of the workers on the floor every day,” said Justis Mulqueen, a server at Lakefront Brewery, in a statement released Monday by MASH.

MASH released the statement in response to the union campaign going public on social media: A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) record of Lakefront’s petition for an election was posted on Reddit.

A majority of the approximately 70 workers in the proposed bargaining unit have signed cards authorizing MASH to represent them. On Oct. 29, the union made a demand for voluntary recognition from the brewery and asked to begin bargaining a contract. It also offered to have a third-party review union membership cards to determine if a majority of employees want the union.

The message to the company is that “a supermajority of Lakefront Brewery workers in the hospitality enterprise already signed union authorization and membership cards saying we have formed a union and we want you to recognize this and bargain with us,” said Peter Rickman, president of MASH, in an interview with Urban Milwaukee. 

The independent card check is preferred to protect the anonymity of the workers organizing the union and prevent an employer from identifying and retaliating against organizers, Rickman said.

Instead, on Nov. 14, Lakefront petitioned the NLRB for a union election. Lakefront owner Russ Klisch could not be reached for comment as of publishing.

For the union, the petition for an election signals that Lakefront wishes to oppose the unionization effort, Rickman said.

“Simply moving into the NLRB mechanism here is opposing unionization, because it’s saying, ‘Well, we actually don’t think that workers have made a choice here,'” Rickman said. 

An election gives an employer more time to push back against unionization during a process that advantages them, given that they control the work site, according to Rickman. An election opens up a set of “bureaucratic, legalistic, administrative maneuvers that delays recognition and commencement of negotiations, where delay is tantamount to denial, where they can use the ins and outs of that process to further erode majority support every step of the way,” Rickman said.

In the past, an employer didn’t need to petition for an election to refuse recognition of a union. But a 2023 decision by the NLRB created a new framework for labor organizing, ruling that once recognition is demanded with majority support an employer has 14 days to recognize the union or petition for an NLRB election.

MASH is charging that Lakefront missed the deadline. Workers demanded recognition on Oct. 29 and Lakefront petitioned for an election on Nov. 14, according to NLRB record.

This opens up a procedural question as to whether Lakefront can still petition for the election, Rickman said. The new framework, established by the CEMEX decision, has not been thoroughly tested in the courts.

Lakefront hospitality workers want a role in determining the company policies and decisions that affect their employment and livelihood, whether that’s pay policies, scheduling or staffing, Rickman said.

“Workers have valuable insight into the operations of the business and should have more input into how it is run. We should have a meaningful say on the conditions of our employment.” said Kimberly Dinan, a Lakefront employees, in MASH’s statement. “Because of this, I hope management commits to opening this line of communication and meeting us at the bargaining table as soon as possible.”