“We didn’t want extreme things.
We wanted, like, health care.
Normal basics.”
BREAD LINE
management was squeezing workers, adding to their workload while
simultaneously cutting hours.
Some management practices
were “arbitrary and abusive,”
Wood claimed. One such practice was known as “splits.” Bakers were often required to work
at two different cafes on the same
day, but they weren’t paid for the
time they spent traveling between
cafes or reimbursed for the miles
they put on their own cars — a
not-insignificant cost for someone
earning $10 an hour.
Saber’s company, Bread of Life,
bought the cafes in August 2011
and brought in new management,
but the pro-union bakers say their
problems continued. Bringing
some old-school unionism to the
new world of fast-casual eateries, the workers sought out the
127-year-old Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain
Millers International Union as
their representative.
“These are bakers just like I
was a baker,” said John Price, an
international representative for
the union, which recently gained
national attention for its strike
against Hostess shortly before the
Twinkie-maker’s liquidation.
Eventually, 90 percent of the
Panera bakers signed cards authorizing a union election. But
according to a complaint filed last
year by a regional director for the
National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB), the federal agency that
enforces labor law, Bread of Life
managers allegedly violated labor
law in trying to dissuade workers
from joining the union. Saber was
personally responsible for many
of the violations, the complaint
stated. Bread of Life has since
settled the complaint without admitting any wrongdoing.
Among the allegations in the
complaint, in the weeks leading
up to the election Bread of Life
told employees not to sign union
authorization cards; asked employees who’d signed them to retract them; launched a website
designed “to discourage support”
for the union; promised workers
better employee benefits if they
declined to unionize; and threatened employees with “loss of benefits” if they did unionize.
The effort also included at least
two required meetings with man-
HUFFINGTON
03.10.13