The Holy Donut made an Instagram post on March 5 announcing that they had been informed by staff of efforts to unionize their store on Park Avenue in Portland, which hopes to be voluntarily recognized by early April. These efforts for recognition mirror efforts of the University of Maine Graduate Workers Union (UMGWU), which reached a contract with the UMaine System on Dec. 17, after over 700 days of bargaining. UMaine Dining has a vendor relationship with the Holy Donut, given that their products are individually sold in the Bear’s Den. The Maine Campus spoke with union members at both the UMGWU and the Holy Donut union to better understand the effort to unionize and how sales and consumer behavior may be impacted on campus.
Justin Gross works as the team lead at the Holy Donut on Park Ave. He explained that the staff had been organizing the union since last fall and workers are primarily concerned about scheduling, safety and workplace environment, and they seek to have their union recognized by early April. The team has not formally held a vote to unionize yet, but all eight members signed authorization cards and publicly announced their effort to unionize during the first week of March.
“We’ve been working to unionize for, oh my goodness, we really started our process back in the early fall,” said Gross. “The manager was fired for our location, which was kind of a separate personnel thing entirely, but the core issues around what were going on really started up, and the rest of ownership kind of took control of the location, and things did not improve at all. In fact they got pretty much worse, so that kind of spurned us.”
Gross said that the staff was disgruntled by management’s attitude and that they did not feel as though they were being respected as individuals. He added that people were regularly fired and that safety materials such as oven mitts were not provided and workers were “abused and mistreated.” Gross illuminated that staff were also not informed of the decisions made by management about the direction of the business, including their partnership with the UMaine Bear’s Den.
“We, on the shop level, are given absolutely zero communication about the business’s overall direction or what they’re even doing,” said Gross. When asked about possible price changes for UMaine students looking to purchase donuts from the Bear’s Den, he said that prices were unlikely to be affected.
“So any price increases, especially since we haven’t given any demand for an increased wage would be 100% on them [management],” said Gross.
Green highlighted UMGWU’s awareness of The Holy Donut’s unionization efforts, explaining that one of their former organizers is now an organizer for The Holy Donut. UMGWU has been following the events closely on social media and even sent a solidarity letter to The Holy Donut. Green commented on the critiques the Holy Donut Union has received that suggest it is financially impractical for small businesses to unionize.
“The right to organize does not depend on the size of a workplace or the type of job someone has. Workers deserve fairness, respect and a voice in their working conditions whether they work in a university, a factory, an office, a hospital or a donut shop,” wrote Green. “The Workers of The Holy Donut are simply exercising the same rights that workers across many industries have used to advocate for themselves and their coworkers.”
Other than the UMGWU, The Holy Donut’s union efforts were also endorsed by Sen. Troy Jackson, who also supported UMGWU’s endeavor. Aurora Green, who serves as the president of UMGWU, expanded on Jackson’s involvement with various unions across the state.
“If there’s a fight for workers’ rights in this State, Troy is there,” wrote Green in an email to the Maine Campus. “Troy has been a long-time champion for working people across Maine, including our own more than two-year fight for our first contract at the University of Maine.”
Chloe DaSilva, a third-year intermedia MFA student and a member of UMGWU, emphasized the importance of UMaine students continuing to support The Holy Donut through purchases at the Bear’s Den as they move to unionize, saying avoidance of the brand could end up hindering the union’s efforts long-term.
“While they’re unionizing, I don’t think we should stop supporting, because it is not a major brand…[and] if we were to stop supporting a small brand, it would make it harder for the employees that work there at the time to, you know, continue being employees there,” said DaSilva. “So I think we should still keep purchasing, you know, because the employees still need support while they go through this process of unionizing.”
Green also offered some advice to the employees at The Holy Donut and those looking to support them.
“The demands of the Workers of the Holy Donut are clear and reasonable. If we continue practicing solidarity with one another and allies in the broader community, and remain steadfast in the commitment to fairness, history has shown that collective action can lead to meaningful change,” wrote Green.
