Two Days after Workers Demanded Union recognition Surly Announces Staff Layoffs

This is a developing story.

Monday the hospitality and kitchen staff of Surly Beer Hall and Pizza Upstairs marched on the boss and demanded a union.

From a press statement sent Monday attributed to the Surly Organizing committee

Before reopening in June, we voiced concerns about our safety regarding the new counter-service model. Despite our efforts, changes were only made after Mayor Frey announced an emergency regulation forbidding guests from ordering at bar areas. Additionally, we were misled regarding the distribution of anew service charge, as well as the availability of benefits to returning employees.

In a time of uncertainty, our demands include open conversations and mutual transparency. As dedicate demployees, we deserve a say in changes that affect our compensation, health insurance, and employment. Unite Surly Workers is inviting leadership to recognize our unionization effort in order to create a more equitable and collaborative workplace.

Since its inception, Surly has been a leader in the beer industry. Today, we are asking them to pioneer the fight for worker’s rights. We are calling on the rest of the service industry to join us and stand up for the right to be heard, to organize, and to form a union. Follow our social media for updates on how to helps support our path to unionization.

Today Surly announced they are closing the beer hall.

In their announcement Surly stated

The timing of this announcement is not ideal. On Monday, some hospitality employees notified us of their intent to unionize. We respect their decision to turn to an outside organization for representation and will continue the dialogue. That does not change the fact that our plans to close the Beer Hall were put in place weeks ago with the announcement planned for this week.

To be clear a union is not an outside organization. It is a collection of workers. Forming a union allows workers to collectively bargain.

Surly workers stated that they got word of the layoffs over social media.

Unite HERE responded over twitter

Filiberto Nolasco Gomez is a former union organizer and former editor of Minneapolis based Workday Minnesota, the first online labor news publication in the state. Filiberto focused on longform and investigative journalism. He has covered topics including prison labor, labor trafficking, and union fights in the Twin Cities.