Professor and Chair of Labor and Employment Studies John Logan commented on unionization efforts at Tartine bakery.
While Tartine has been referred to "America's most influential bakery" and its owners boast an "outstanding pastry chef" James Beard Award, the San Francisco-based bakery's employees are likely to unionize in response to stagnating pay rates and recent reductions in benefits.
The bakery's owners have hired a union-busting firm known for working with Whole Foods and Donald Trump. "The overwhelming number of employers tend to react this way," Logan says. "Opposition - and fairly aggressive opposition - tends to be the norm."
This attempt to unionize and the owners' response is not an uncommon combination. Tartine employees are seeking the same outcomes as other San Francisco-based companies and, according to Logan, between 70 and 80 percent of employers hire outside experts to keep workers from organizing.