Anna McGee has hit a wall. So has her boss.
A 26-year-old front-of-the-house worker at Denver’s Mercury Cafe, McGee joined other employees last month to demand that co-owner Danny Newman institute changes to what she calls “dehumanizing working conditions” at the Five Points restaurant, including low pay, unpredictable schedules, and an unsafe environment.
Newman doesn’t see it that way. He’s already making efforts to improve working conditions, he said. And there’s no money for big raises, as the business — a focal point of Denver’s poetic arts scene for more than three decades — hasn’t yet turned a profit since he, his wife and business partner Austin Gayer bought it two years ago. (Former Mercury Cafe owner Marilyn Megenity told The Denver Post the business was in stable financial shape when she sold it to the trio — one of several buyers she entertained.)
“Danny’s been transparent about (the challenges),” McGee acknowledged. “We came back to him and said, ‘We’ll wait five more months for contract negotiations,’ which is what he was asking for, ‘but you have to voluntarily recognize our workers collective.’ ”
He has chosen not to. Nearly everything in the workers’ demands is already part of Denver or Colorado law — or something he was already working on, Newman said.
“I’ve had to do a lot of research in trying to figure out what this looks like at the most micro scale with a single owner and a handful of employees,” said Newman, an entrepreneur who has been lauded for buying and “saving” The Merc and the historic My Brother’s Bar. “These (challenging conditions) aren’t necessarily how it’s always been or how it’s going to be here.”
That hasn’t stopped a unionization drive that employees McGee, Katie Rayne and Nat Whitney are leading ahead of an Aug. 22 election. The potential union would include 10 to 12 members and operate under the Communications Workers of America. They also want safety training, since they’ve been threatened with harm by a handful of people living on the streets around the cafe, requiring off-duty police presence for a time, McGee said. (Newman has purchased tasers and mace, McGee added.)
There has been an explosion of union action like this across the country this year, extending far past the marquee strikes that taking place in Hollywood right now and into the world of delivery drivers, auto workers, bartenders and stagehands.
That momentum has inspired a new raft of hourly Denver workers — cultural, creative and service-industry employees in particular — to band together, having witnessed recent successes like the Meow Wolf Workers Collective, which saw 70% of its 200-plus Denver employees vote to unionize in 2021.
It has also given these workers leverage, especially at a time when many employers are having a hard time filling open jobs. Unemployment is at historically low levels — currently 3.5% nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — for the past 12 months, and it’s trending even lower in Colorado, at 2.8%.
But for small businesses, nonprofits or cultural institutions, many of which are still recovering from pandemic losses, there is a tension between giving workers what they want and staying afloat in their industry.
It’s something that nascent union leaders understand. So is the stigma that unions can present.
“It’s a very conflicted thing for people to talk about,” said Garrett Edquist, a tech worker at Meow Wolf Denver and member of the Meow Wolf Workers Collective (MWWC). “A lot of people have had bad experiences with unions, since some of them have been around so long that they’ve become corrupt and cater to the needs of a few. Companies work hard to put out that narrative of knowing what’s best for workers, so there’s a balance to be struck.”
Some of the MWWC’s concerns exist out of the company’s control, said Alex Bennett, senior vice president and head of exhibitions for the immersive entertainment company. “We’re an attraction that ebbs and flows with the seasons, like Elitch Gardens or Denver Art Museum,” he said about regular hours for part-time workers — one of MWCC’s running concerns. “Our priority is making sure full-time staff has full-time hours, and if we need to supplement we can do that. We’re having an ongoing dialogue with different departments and always ask what else we can do.”
Colorado arts and culture workers have a number of bedrock groups to look to for guidance, whether it’s the 650-strong, 133-year-old Denver Musicians Association or the Denver Theatrical Stage, Film & Exhibition Union, founded in 1891. Last month, Broadway and touring stagehands who are represented by a contract negotiated by the international IATSE held a strike authorization vote. The Denver chapter wasn’t part of the vote, but some of its members who tour under that contract did participate.
The parties reached an agreement at the last minute, but if IATSE members had gone on strike, the Denver impact would have been immediate, interrupting the national tour for the Alanis Morissette Broadway musical, “Jagged Little Pill,” (opening Aug. 16 at the Buell Theatre) and taking a bite out of the nonprofit Denver Center for the Performing Arts. That’s in stark contrast to Colorado members of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA unions, which respectively cover actors and writers, who stopped all local work as part of the Hollywood-led strikes.
“The strike is a pain in the ass and is complicating some things, but it’s necessary,” said Denver comedian and writer Ben Roy, whose truTV sitcom “Those Who Can’t” was pulled from the Max streaming service during the strikes. It’s currently unavailable to watch, and Roy said he’s been unable to get details as to when it will return.
“It’s typical in the industry — not getting what we’re owed for streaming — but this is like COVID all over again in that it’s halting everything,” said Roy, whose new comedy special, “Hyena,” began streaming on YouTube for free on Aug. 10. “No one’s buying anything, no one’s talking about anything. Writing is often a nightmare anyway, and this isn’t helping.”
One of the tallest climbs, however, is in the service industry, which has had historically low union representation. In June, thousands of Starbucks employees at 150 stores went on strike to protest the stores’ policy of limiting Pride Month decorations. In Colorado, the company has also illegally retaliated against workers who tried to unionize at nine statewide stores, a judge ruled in February.
There’s even collective action at social nonprofits, such as Urban Peak. In late July, employees there voted to unionize, citing work conditions and a lack of pay and support — making Urban Peak the first homeless shelter in Colorado to unionize, according to the Service Employees International Union Local 105.
This summer is shaping up to be the busiest for general union action since 2000, according to Bloomberg Law data, with some 323,000 workers having already gone on strike, and hundreds of thousands more poised to stop work.
Last month in Lakewood, 50 Casa Bonita employees gathered for an all-hands meeting and delivered a letter of demands to owners and “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, The Denver Post reported. The staff had been notified mere days before the Lakewood Mexican eatery launched its “soft openings” that higher-ups nixed the option for customers to tip, instead giving workers a flat fee of $30 per hour. Casa Bonita had first said it would pay bartenders $14.27 an hour plus tips, according to an employee statement.
The collective dubs themselves #WeAreTeamCasa, and drafted the letter with the help of Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United, the nation’s first and largest restaurant workers-led organization.
Their concerns arrive alongside sobering statistics about multimillionaire business owners: the CEO-to-worker pay ratio has risen from 20-1 in 1965 to 399-1 in 2023, according to Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor. But even smaller organizations can seem lopsided to workers, with minimum-wage requirements still failing to make up for cost-of-living increases and a lack of full-time benefits, or to stem losses from the inflation of the last couple years.
“I’m learning so much in the process and it’s been such an awakening,” said McGee, who described herself as a lifelong service industry worker.
“I realized I have rights, and that I don’t have to continue to burn myself out,” she said. “A lot of people in Denver are in the early stages of this process and connecting with other unions, and answering that question of whether this is worth the struggle. The answer is that it’s worth it to know you’re not helpless, that you have basic rights and deserve to discuss your pay. But it’s created a lot of fear and misunderstanding, which we weren’t prepared for.”
Meow Wolf union member Edquist said part of the union’s job is to educate business leaders about not only their employment requirements, but the ethics of how they’re treating their workers. Only then will the culture truly start to change, he said. But he’s not holding his breath.
“You can see that the money is not going into the hands of people that do create the value,” Edquist said. “The act of unionizing and getting your workplace organized is essential in this day and age. If you don’t do that for yourself, you get walked over.”
