The Colectivo union election ends in a tie; hearings on challenged ballots are next

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The union election at Colectivo Coffee ended in a 99-99 tie after five hours of counting on Tuesday, meaning the outcome of the vote will come down to 16 challenged ballots. 

The proceedings took place over Zoom today, beginning at 9 a.m.. Representatives from both Colectivo and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or IBEW, were present for the counting. 

“You could hear a pin drop in the room,” said John Jacobs, assistant business manager of IBEW Local 494. “I thought it was amazing. First one side is ahead, then the other pulls ahead, then next think you know we are tied and then the results are in and it is 99 to 99? That is amazing to me.” 

Post from the union effort Instagram announcing the tie to supporters.

Hillary Laskonis, a Colectivo worker and vocal union organizer, said after the counting finished that she was feeling physically and emotionally “exhausted and deflated” and could hardly process the day. 

Ballots come inside two envelopes. The actual ballot is inside a blue envelope, which is inside a yellow envelope, which the voter signs the outside of to verify its authenticity. 

The proceedings are therefore twofold: For the first part, an official from the National Labor Relations Board shows each yellow envelope to viewers to verify it is sealed and not tampered with. This is the stage where a ballot is accepted or rejected based on its condition or placement of signature or seal. 

For the second part of the process, the official opens the yellow envelopes and sorts the blue envelopes into a separate box. Then, in the same way, the official opens each blue envelope and places the ballots into another box.

Finally, they shuffle the ballots and hold each one up to the camera for viewers from both sides to see. According to Jacobs, the two sides keep a handwritten tally to keep track of votes in favor and against.

The 16 contested ballots will be taken to a hearing with the NLRB to determine their validity, Jacobs said. Colectivo challenged all 16 ballots, Local 494 Business Manager Dean Warsh said in a statement to Urban Milwaukee. That challenges included at least two where the signatures covered the seal on the outer envelope. 

Once decisions about whether to include or exclude these ballots are made, the NLRB will hold another counting session and final results will be announced, according to a press release from the IBEW Local 494. 

Jacobs estimates that final results could be delayed for up to two months by these rejected ballots. 

“I am confident,” Jacobs said in a phone interview. “I am because with the aggressive approach that Colectivo management took by hiring the LRI, and yet we are still in it, how could I not be?”

The Milwaukee coffee chain hired a consulting firm called the Labor Relations Institute, or LRI, in December of 2020. The firm has a going rate of $375 per hour, according to documents obtained by the Voluntary Organizing Committee (VOC) and posted to the group’s Instagram account, known as the ‘Colectivo Collective’.

The firm utilized strategies such as captive audience meetings, where workers are paid to listen to a presentation that is anti-union, as well as taking away job perks such as choosing music that plays in the kitchen or taking home day old food, according to the VOC Instagram. 

In a statement to Media Milwaukee before the election, Colectivo said that the decision to hire the LRI was an investment to ensure coworkers were fully informed, and that the VOC forced their hand.

“Colectivo would much rather be spending these funds on wages, equipment, tools and improvements to systems, but this wasn’t our choice” according to the statement.

In a press release sent out after the counting was finished, Warsh said Colectivo workers have taken “a bold and necessary step toward ensuring that every employee has fair treatment and dignity in their work.”

At the time of publication, Colectivo has yet to release a statement.

The full statement released by the IBEW local 494 on Tuesday.

UPDATE (10:16 a.m. April 7) – In a press release sent out this morning, Colectivo acknowledged the election but not the tie, stating just that “The NLRB conducted a vote count today and the union did not obtain a majority of votes necessary to move ahead with organizing.”

View the full statement below.