Bar staff at the famed Northalsted nightclub Berlin voted to unionize Tuesday evening.
The nightclub workers, including bartenders, barbacks, security staff, coat check workers and stage managers, voted 16-4 to unionize with Unite Here Local 1, according to National Labor Relations Board election records. Drag performers and DJs at the club work on a gig basis, workers told the Tribune, and are therefore not eligible to be part of its bargaining unit.
Though Chicago has seen a wave of new union filings in venues such cannabis dispensaries, coffee shops and museums, union wins or even filings out of independently owned bars and clubs are rare.
Security staff member Chelle Crotinger told the Tribune Wednesday it made sense that Berlin, a mainstay of the Northalsted nightlife scene and a gathering place for Chicago’s alternative queer communities, was at the forefront.
“Berlin is an incredibly unique space in that it is the home for all of the alternative stuff, all of the weirder stuff. The grungier, grimier, grittier stuff lives at Berlin,” said Crotinger, 31.
“Those communities that are really ingrained into those lifestyles, there’s a lot of progressivism and a lot of almost anarchistic sentiment,” they said. If Berlin wants to be a home for those communities, Crotinger added, “then we need to show it in our actions.”
Berlin, which will turn 40 this year, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Owners Jo Webster and Jim Schuman previously declined to comment on concerns brought by staff about issues like wages and health insurance, saying in a statement last month they believed it was “best to have this conversation with our employees.” Webster and Schuman said in March they were “committed to following the law and the NLRB process.”
Berlin staff filed for a union election in late February, citing pay, a lack of health care and paid sick time and inconsistent scheduling as factors that motivated them to unionize. Like many workers who have sought union representation in recent months, they said they wanted to have more of a say in how their workplace was run.
“If Berlin has a staff that is largely trans, and we don’t have health insurance, how are we supposed to medically transition if that’s what we want to do?” Crotinger said Wednesday. “It’s a matter of if we want to talk the talk, then we also have to walk the walk.”
Experts told the Tribune that filings like the Berlin staff’s are uncommon in large part because unions like Unite Here, which represents hospitality workers at venues like Navy Pier, Wrigley Field, convention centers and hotels, tend to focus on organizing larger groups of workers at once for strategic reasons. Workers at Berlin first approached Unite Here about unionizing as opposed to the other way around.
In the Chicago area, union filings that mention bar staff are most often associated with hotels. Elsewhere in the country, staff at a queer bar in Brooklyn called Oddly Enough filed for a union election last year but have since withdrawn their petition. Strippers at a topless dive bar in Los Angeles are attempting to unionize with the Actors’ Equity Association, though the bar is contesting their status as employees eligible to unionize.
Berlin workers told the Tribune they hoped their union campaign would inspire other nightlife workers in Northalsted and throughout Chicago to unionize. A representative for Unite Here declined to say Wednesday whether the union had plans to organize other independent bars or clubs in the city.
The parties have five business days to file objections to the election at Berlin; if no objections are filed, the NLRB will certify the results and the club must begin bargaining in good faith with staff.
