NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | March 20, 2015 | PAGE 3
Amid union activity, Grand Central Baking closes cafe
Laborers Local 483 says Sawtooth
Cafe closed early after an
employee protest
By Don McIntosh
Associate Editor
Grand Central Baking — a pop-
ular local chain of artisan bak-
eries — is facing accusations
that it closed its Northwest Port-
land cafe months ahead of
schedule in retaliation for em-
ployees there having made de-
mands. The allegation is con-
tained in a charge filed with the
National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) by Laborers Local 483.
It’s not the first time Grand
Central has been scrutinized by
the federal agency: In June 2013,
Grand Central settled an NLRB
charge that it fired cafe worker
Ryan Wisnor for complaining
about safety, wages, and staffing
on behalf of co-workers. Grand
Central agreed to reinstate Wis-
nor with back pay, but he was
one of the eight who were then
laid off in the closure of the Saw-
tooth Cafe, located at 2240 NW
York in the industrial part of
Northwest Portland.
The closure came as a shock
to workers interviewed for this
story. Grand Central is a success-
ful company that has grown
from a single Seattle location 25
years ago to 10 locations in Port-
land and Seattle today.
The closure was announced at
a Jan. 4 staff meeting attended
by workers from the Sawtooth
Cafe and Grand Central’s adja-
cent wholesale bakery. At the
meeting, workers say, company
co-owner Piper Davis an-
nounced that because wholesale
bread demand was exceeding
bakery capacity, Grand Central
would close the Sawtooth and
use the space to expand the
wholesale bakery. Cafe workers
didn’t take the news well. Sev-
eral began to cry. Davis said the
closure would happen March 31,
to give workers and customers
time to adjust.
A week later, some of the
workers asked Grand Central
HR manager Paul Munoz if the
company could give them pref-
erential rehire at other locations.
Munoz said no, but promised to
let them know by email when
positions become available.
They could apply like anyone
else, and give their best inter-
view.
Then on Jan. 16, all but one of
the pink-slipped workers —
joined by co-workers and a
dozen community supporters
from Portland Jobs with Justice
— marched into a manager’s of-
fice to present a written demand
Social Security
Disability benefits:
You paid into the
system while you
worked and if you can’t
work anymore, it’s time
to obtain them.
for the right to preferential rehir-
ing.
The company didn’t respond.
Instead, on Jan. 22, managers
called a meeting at the end of the
day, and told Sawtooth Cafe
workers not to come back the
next day. Workers would get five
weeks severance pay, and health
insurance through the end of
February, but the Sawtooth
would close immediately —
more than two months before
the previously announced clo-
sure date.
Why the sped-up closure?
Co-owner Davis told the Labor
Press that the company didn’t
close the cafe early out of retali-
ation.
“We totally support employ-
ees’ Section 7 rights,” Davis said
— a reference to workers’ rights
under the National Labor Rela-
tions Act to join a union or act in
concert. Rather, the cafe was
closed because it was becoming
increasingly difficult to sched-
ule, Davis said. A manager had
quit months before, a worker
had to be fired for leaving a safe
unlocked, and remaining work-
ers weren’t flexible enough with
shifts, Davis said. But several
laid-off workers disputed that,
saying there were enough work-
ers available to keep the store
open until March 31. The NLRB
case may hinge on which side is
more plausible. It’s being inves-
tigated by NLRB field attorney
Lisa Dunn, who investigated
Grand Central’s previous charge.
Since the closure, Grand Cen-
tral has made good on its pledge
to notify terminated employees
of new openings at other loca-
tions. But at least two have ap-
plied for open positions, and the
company hasn’t hired them
back, even when it was the same
job they did at the Sawtooth
Cafe.
“It’s less than I’d expect from
a company that holds itself to the
standards it does,” said laid-off
Sawtooth worker Casey Enns.
Grand Central has cultivated
a reputation as an ethical busi-
ness. It uses pastured eggs, hu-
manely-raised meat, sustainably
caught tuna from the Oregon
coast, and flour from Northwest
farmers. And its compensation is
relatively high for its industry:
Cafe workers make up to $12.50
an hour, and bakers up to $15.
Employees working more than
25 hours a week get health insur-
ance for as little as $20 a month.
There’s also one to three weeks
paid vacation a year, a 25 per-
cent 401(k) match, and quarterly
profit sharing checks of up to 70
cents an hour.
Workers at the Sawtooth Cafe
say they loved their jobs. Yet
they may also have wanted a
union. In October 2014, the
Sawtooth workers began talking
with Laborers Local 483.
Local 483 is a public sector
local of the Laborers Interna-
tional Union of North America
(LiUNA). But Local 483 also
has some history fighting for
low-wage workers, and recently
helped a group of food service
workers at the Oregon Zoo
unionize.
Closing the cafe and laying
off the workers appears to have
nipped any union campaign in
the bud. Whether the sped-up
closure was done only for legiti-
mate business reasons, or some-
thing more, NLRB will try to de-
termine.
An online petition calling on
Grand Central to rehire the
workers into open positions has
over 600 signatures.
Merkley introduces bill to crack
down on unfair trade practices
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
has introduced a bill that would
crack down on unfair trade prac-
tices and level the playing field
for American manufacturing
companies.
“If we don’t make things in
America, we won’t have a mid-
dle class in America. Global
trade shouldn’t be a race to the
bottom where countries win by
allowing corporations to adopt
abysmal labor and environmen-
tal practices” Merkley said at a
press conference March 13 in
front of the abandoned Blue
Heron paper mill in Oregon
City. He was joined by several
laid-off workers who used to
have good-paying jobs at paper
mills in Oregon before they shut
down and relocated overseas.
The Level the Playing Field
in Global Trade Act would, for
the first time, require that any
new trade deals considered un-
der Trade Promotion Authority
(fast track) recognize egregious
environmental and labor prac-
tices as a form of illegal subsidy
that can be remedied by U.S. du-
ties. Merkley pointed out that
current U.S. law and trade
agreements already prohibit
“dumping” of products, where
companies export products at
prices below the cost of produc-
tion or cheaper than they sell for
in the home country. The law
allows the U.S. to impose duties
to make the sale price in Amer-
ica reflect what the true cost
would be without cheating.
The Act would reward com-
panies that adhere to high global
standards by creating new trade
enforcement incentives.
“As we debate our future
trade policy, we need to make
sure that we’re not allowing the
deck to be permanently stacked
against American manufactur-
ing,” Merkley said. “On a level
playing field, American manu-
facturing and American workers
can compete with the best in the
world. Let’s create that level
playing field by counting vastly
sub-standard wage and environ-
mental standards as exactly
what they are — unfair subsi-
dies that cost jobs and damage
manufacturers who play by the
rules.”
The Level the Playing Field
in Global Trade Act is co-spon-
sored by Sen. Tammy Baldwin
(D-WI).