BUFFALO, N.Y. — Less than 24 hours after going on strike, workers at Remedy House coffee shop in the Five Points neighborhood have officially unionized.
Employees walked off the job on Tuesday after a co-worker was allegedly fired while announcing their intent to unionize.
A spokesperson with the Rochester regional joint board of Workers United said Remedy House voluntarily recognized the union. On Thursday, the coffee shop released a statement saying, in part, that it supports the staff's right to choose to unionize.
"We are excited for this next step in the Remedy House journey," the coffee shop said. "From the first time we spoke with the organizing committee, we expressed our full support of their efforts. We voluntarily recognized the formation of this union within Remedy House.
"While this is new for all of us, we look forward to moving through this process in a spirit of cooperation as we have always tried to be strong advocates of our employees, and will continue to do so going forward."
The statement also addressed the fired co-worker.
"The incredibly difficult decision to lay off five of our employees was made days prior to us having knowledge of any unionization efforts, and we were only made aware of this intention when one of the terminated employees had been informed. The original decision to lay off these workers was made after much deliberation and was done to ensure the financial viability of Remedy House in what has been a tumultuous climate for restaurants, hopefully securing the positions of all of our other valued workers," the Remedy House said in a statement.