Recovery Cafe Bargaining Update
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Our Union has been in negotiations with Recovery Cafe for over 8 months. While first contracts can take time to ensure existing benefits are secured and to build upon important issues, our Union Bargaining Team is eager to get to a contract as soon as possible. As prices rise, each week without meaningful wage increases or improvements on healthcare costs is felt deeply by our coworkers.
Some of the last few things on the bargaining table include recognition of who is in our Union and protections against new locations being non-union, improvements on cost sharing for dependent healthcare coverage, and wages. Our Bargaining Team has sent Recovery Cafe a proposal that we believe will move us towards a deal that we can take to our coworkers to ratify.
While the length of this process can feel frustrating, we’ve already won some meaningful improvements to working conditions at Recovery Cafe, some including:
A wage scale and wage progression that ensures wage increases each year and based on years of service
A transition to an Employer paid pension retirement plan
Harassment protections and accountability measures if cafe staff face harassment from cafe members
Just cause protections that ensures all union workers have strong workplace protections against unjust discipline or terminations
Retroactive pay to July 2025 on wage increases once our contract is ratified
Improvements to sick time and holiday time
We are looking forward to meeting with Recovery Cafe soon to finalize our contract and set vote dates. If you have any questions about next steps, feel free to reach out to our union bargaining committee or union representative Allison Hanley at (206) 436-6586.
