A Chipotle Mexican Grill sign is seen in the Park Slope neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | beautiful pictures
One Mexican barbecue restaurant in Lansing, Michigan, became the chain’s first location to vote for unification.
Shop workers voted 11 to 3 in favor of unionization under the International Brotherhood of Teammates, according to a vote tally conducted on Thursday.
“We were disappointed when the staff at our Lansing, MI restaurant chose to have a third party speak on their behalf as we continue to believe that working face-to-face is best for our employees. us,” Chipotle spokeswoman Laurie Schalow said in a statement to CNBC.
Teamsters Joint Council 43 did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
Chipotle has five business days to file an objection to the election. If Chipotle chooses not to raise any objections, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board will confirm the results and the company is required to initiate good faith negotiations with the union.
The location is the second Chipotle restaurant ever to apply to the NLRB for incorporation.
At the end of June, a Chipotle restaurant in Augusta, Maine, became the chain’s first store to apply for a union election, is seeking to organize under Chipotle United, which is not affiliated with any of the larger unions. Company permanently close the location after the petition is filed, citing personnel issues. Chipotle United filed a complaint with the NLRB, alleging the move was in retaliation.
Victory for Chipotle organizers in Michigan comes after more than 200 Starbucks Coffee shops in the US voted unanimously over the past 10 months. Despite recent celebrity efforts, unions are still a rarity in the restaurant industry. Just 1.2% of workers at food outlets were members of unions last year, well below the private sector union rate of 6.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. .
