29 Aug VICTORY for Workers at Bimbo QSR in Denver, Colo.
130 workers at the Bimbo QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) bakery in Denver have voted to join BCTGM Local 26 (Denver, Colo.). Workers in the facility bake buns and other bread products for use at quick service restaurants like Wendy’s, Burger King and McDonald’s.
Bimbo Bakeries recently purchased the Denver facility, which was formerly named Mile Hi Bakery, and incorporated it into its QSR division. “Local 26 has attempted to organize the Mile Hi workers in the past, but had not been successful,” BCTGM International Secretary-Treasurer/Acting Organizing Director David Woods reports.
According to Woods, Local 26 also already represented workers at the Bimbo-owned Denver Bakery and Commerce City Bakeries nearby. “This was a natural target and we are happy to finally welcome these workers into our Union family,” he says.
The organizing committee for this campaign consisted of Woods, Western Region International Vice President Shad Clark, International Representatives Alejandro Ahumada and Andrew Gutierrez, Local 26 President Clifton Horton and Local 26 Financial Secretary/Business Agent Drew Buchholz. Together, they determined the BCTGM’s many other contracts with Bimbo Bakeries were their strongest entry point to this campaign.
“This is a good company, and our Union already represents the majority of their workers across the country,” Woods says. “We had a very productive dialogue with Bimbo executives and they agreed that the workers would get a free and fair election.”
Even with that good relationship among the Union and Company leadership, the committee had work to do in terms of building trust with the workers. “One of our biggest challenges was the language barrier,” Woods says. “A significant portion of the workforce is Spanish-speaking, and 25-30 are Afghans [who speak Dari].”
Ahumada and Gutierrez made themselves available at all times to communicate in Spanish with the workers. Horton called on member Mohammad Jafari from Local 26’s King Soopers shop to assist the campaign with translations in Dari. “These guys really got to know the workers. They made friends with them and helped them understand what the Union is all about,” Woods says. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
In addition to face-to-face conversations, all printed communications for the campaign were written in English, Spanish and Dari to make sure all of the workers could understand the information.
In the end, over 80% of the workers at the Denver Bimbo QSR plant voted in favor of the Union.
“Having that neutral posture on behalf of the company is less and less common, and not something we take for granted as organizers,” Woods continues. “It just goes to show that when workers are given a free and fair opportunity to learn and talk about the Union, they will choose to have a voice in their workplace. They will vote for the Union.”
In reflecting on the organizing victory at Bimbo QSR, President Shelton said in a statement:
“I commend Secretary-Treasurer Woods, our International staff in the Western Region and the leaders at Local 26 for their incredible work on this campaign, which showed that the BCTGM is a Union that represents ALL workers.
“We are honored to welcome the workers of Bimbo QSR into the BCTGM, and will support Local 26 with everything necessary to deliver the strong representation that the workers at their sister facilities enjoy.”