Today we came prepared to negotiate all day but shortened our session due to health reasons of the Deep Roots bargaining team. Nevertheless, we made meaningful progress on bereavement, inclement weather, and seniority! We won the inclusion of close friends, people residing with the employee, and pets in bereavement leave, and are continuing to push for more paid time. We also are proud to have reached a tentative agreement today on our Grievance Procedure which will allow us to have a process to challenge unfair discipline, pay discrepancies, and other violations of our Union contract.

Our team has reached tentative agreements on many articles of our first Union contract:

• Definition of who is included in our Union and protections in the event that Deep Roots were to sell in the future

• Recognition of Union stewards at each studio, access for our Union Rep to visit us at work, and Union bulletin boards to share information with each other

• Protections against discrimination, recognition of our gender identities, fair process for job postings and awarding new positions, standards of practice for covering shifts at other studios

• Just Cause! This is the heart of a Union contract. This protects us from unequal treatment and misapplication of company policies and discipline.

• Rights to leaves of absence under state and federal law, Union leave up to 3 days per year for Union stewards, leave for occupational injury up to 12 months

• Grievance Procedure with 30 day timeline to file grievances

We return to the bargaining table on January 29 to push towards the finish line! We expect at our next session a full economic response from Deep Roots that will include wages, commission, holidays, vacation, sick leave, healthcare, and retirement.

As we organize together, remember that we currently have the right to Union Representation if we are called into a meeting with HQ or management that could result in discipline. This is called our Weingarten right. We also have the right to wear our stickers at work- it is an unfair labor practice for Deep Roots to ask us to remove them if we are allowed to wear other buttons and stickers. Please reach out to our Union Rep Dominick Ojeda, 206-436-6586, if you have questions or need to request that he join you at a meeting.

“We are so close- let’s stay Threaded Together and show our solidarity! Please wear your stickers every day and share with your clients, friends, and other supporters of Deep Roots workers.”- Our Union Bargaining Team, Cy Manning & Lexi Otway