Top Hospitality Union Leadership Visit Twin Cities to Learn From Local Organizing Victories

From August 12th to 14th UNITE HERE!’s International Union, which represents restaurant and hospitality workers, brought leaders from all over the country to Minneapolis to dig in on union business and organizing strategies. As part of the visit, organizers and leadership from Twin Cities UNITE HERE Local 17 partnered with Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) and Workers Confluence for a panel conversation with national union leaders. 

Local organizers delivered a well received presentation on the groundbreaking organizing happening in Minneapolis, fueled by the partnership between Local 17 and ROC. Together these union and worker center partners have developed the organizing skills of restaurant and hospitality workers most at the margins of the economy and changed the narrative around low-wage essential workers. 

This partnership’s roots go back to 2020 when restaurant and hospitality workers weathered industry shutdowns amidst the crises of the COVID pandemic and the uprising following George Floyd’s murder, and they have been organizing for change together ever since. This has included a string of historic unionization efforts for hundreds of workers in restaurants, event venues, breweries, and distilleries.

This visit from UNITE HERE!’s national leadership came only days before the abrupt closing of Kim’s, one of several recently unionized Twin Cities restaurants. The union has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against the owners of Kim’s, alleging that the closure and other actions by management during the election period constitute union busting. (More Confluence coverage here.) 

This sudden and legally questionable closure, announced at what was supposed to be the start of contract negotiations, highlights the challenges this movement is up against, but also how critical it is for these workers to build and wield collective power. The Restaurant and hospitality workers in Minnesota are redefining what kind of organizing is possible in their industry, and delegates left the UNITE HERE! leadership meeting inspired and eager to take these lessons back home to their locals throughout the country. 

Meanwhile here in the Twin Cities, workers at the 7 event venues owned by First Avenue Productions continue to work with their new union to negotiate their first contract, and the Confluence-supported partnership between ROC and Local 17 is fielding inquiries from more and more restaurant and hospitality workers ready to stand together to make change in their industry.