Workers at Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee work to unionize

Service workers at Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee are trying to form a union, the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization announced Monday.

More than 70 percent of the brewery’s front-of-house and back-of-house staff have signed union authorization and membership cards, the union said. 

But they may have to conduct a formal union election, supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.

In a statement, lead line cook Kimberly Dinan said the workers want to unionize to create better communication among everyone who works at the brewery and to give workers more of a voice in decision making.

“We should have a meaningful say on the conditions of our employment,” Dinan stated. “Because of this, I hope management commits to opening this line of communication and meeting us at the bargaining table as soon as possible.”

The workers informed Lakefront Brewery in late October they signed cards to form a union with the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization, or MASH, the union said.

An Oct. 29 letter from MASH President Peter Rickman to Lakefront Brewery owner Russ Klisch called on the company to recognize MASH as the collective bargaining unit for the workers. It also offered to let the company review the signed membership cards through a mutually agreed upon third party.

“The company sought to review the cards on their own, a breach of the confidentiality of the unionization process that would have opened up employees to retaliation,” MASH said in a statement. “The union presented the company’s lawyer with a card check agreement to ensure against retaliation and to provide for a neutral third party to review. Despite promising a response, the employer then stopped communicating with the union.”

On Nov. 14, Lakefront Brewery filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, seeking a formal union election. MASH argues that the NLRB election process is often used by employers to prevent unionization.

“Employers use bureaucratic maneuvers and litigation tactics to delay and prevent employees from voting, undermining support and wearing down workplace union leaders,” MASH said in a statement.

MASH also said it requested union recognition for roughly 80 full- and part-time workers, but the company identified the bargaining unit as roughly 70 workers in its NLRB filing.

Klisch with Lakefront Brewery did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday.