FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 2, 2022
Contact: Jessica Hayssen, 651-261-8559
Workers join ranks of Minnesota’s largest essential worker union for food and retail
MINNEAPOLIS, MN –Workers from Peace Coffee won union recognition today from a National Labor Relations Board election. Workers have unionized with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663 to secure livable wages, better working conditions and a seat at the table.
“This is just the beginning of the journey. We will soon begin to bargain for our first contract. I am looking forward to a much-needed change for my coworkers, our company and our families so we improve all our lives,” said Sandro Garcia, Senior Production Associate at Peace Coffee for over seven years.
The unit includes 17 workers who overwhelmingly voted to unionize. Union represented work at Peace Coffee includes roasting, production, shipping and delivery of the organically fair-traded beans.
Workers announced they were forming a union with UFCW Local 663 on April 14 this year. Ballots for the Peace Coffee election were sent to workers by the U.S. Mail and a certified election count was scheduled for Thursday, June 2 at 1 p.m.
Workers from other recent UFCW Local 663 organizing efforts are also inspired for the newly organized unit. “I’m excited to see the workers at Peace Coffee standing up for themselves. United like this, we will get our needs met. And that’s what I want to see in the world: getting our needs met, living our best lives and looking out for each other,” said Lindsey McDonald Dorsey, bookseller at Half Price Books in St. Louis Park.
“Our union welcomes workers at Peace Coffee. UFCW Local 663 is dedicated to improving workers’ lives, workplace by workplace. We are the union of essential workers who have each other’s backs. Our union has a place for anyone that wants to build a better life by reaching together for higher wages, benefits and more workplace protections,” said Matthew Utecht, president of UFCW Local 663.
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UFCW Local 663 represents more than 17,000 hard-working retail, meat packing and processing, food preparation and manufacturing, healthcare, and other workers in Minnesota and Iowa. We strive to improve the lives of our members and of all working families by fighting for economic, political, and social justice in our workplaces and communities. UFCW Local 663 is part of the 1.3 million-member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.