HUFFINGTON
03.10.13
BREAD LINE
covered a union contract for three
or four years. It’s nuts.”
After the election, Bread of Life
filed a charge of its own against
the bakers union, claiming that
several bakers, VonEitzen and
Wood in particular, had tried to
pressure employees into supporting the union. The charge alleged
there’d been an “overall environment of anger and intimidation”
emanating from pro-union bakers.
The labor board’s regional director dismissed the charge, saying there was “no substantive
merit to the allegations.” She also
chided Bread of Life for not fully
cooperating with the very investigation the company requested.
The regional director has since
filed another complaint against
Bread of Life, however, accusing
the company of “refusing” to bargain in good faith and “coercing”
employees, among other charges.
Such litigation can drag on for
years, making it an effective delay
tactic for employers fending off
unionization efforts. In an industry where low pay and high turnover are standard, the prospects
for unionization tend to dim as
workers leave for new jobs or tire
of the battle with management as
they try to make ends meet.
Price, the union representative,
said labor law is tilted too far in
the favor of employers, making
it nearly impossible to unionize
workers in an industry like restaurants where organized labor
has little presence.
“This is the problem with the
NLRB — they have no enforcement powers whatsoever, and
most attorneys know it,” Price
said. “I tell people what the law
is, ‘This is your right.’ After I tell
them that, I say, ‘They’re going
to break every one of those laws,
keep in mind.’”
The Panera bakers claimed
management has retaliated
against them for their pro-union
stances. Schilling said he lost
work hours after supporting the
union. Under the settlement over
the earlier labor board complaint,
Bread of Life agreed to give Schilling roughly $500 in back pay. But
Schilling claimed the lost shifts
will cost him hundreds, if not
thousands, more than that.
Others claimed they’ve taken a
hit on their evaluations. The bakers receive semi-annual grades
for their work known as “calibrations,” which help determine what
kind of bonus they might get. A
succession of failing grades is
cause for termination.
VonEitzen alleged that her calibrations dipped after the union-