Workers at Stilheart, Lawless distilleries will unionize
Stilheart Distillery and Cocktail Lounge
The latest Minnesota hospitality workers have announced plans to unionize, this time at Lawless Distilling, and Stilheart Distillery and Cocktail Lounge.
Minnesota hospitality union United Here Local 17 announced Monday that workers from the two Minneapolis businesses had received recognition of their union. The announcement follows moves by workers at Tattershall Distillery and Spyhouse Coffee to unionize with United Here Local 17.
Workers from Surly Brewing also announced plans to unionize with Local 17 last week. Shortly after the announcement, Surly said its beer hall would close in November, citing financial challenges caused by COVID-19.
The union criticized the announcement by Surly as an act of retaliation, claiming it “intended to intimidate and retaliate against the employees for forming a union."
Surly maintained the decision was made weeks ago and that the announcement was already planned. The brewery states the workers’ decision to unionize had no bearing on the closure.
“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,” Surly said in a statement.
Still, the announcement led to a protest at Surly in Minneapolis this past weekend, which was attended by union workers, supporters and local leaders.
The Surly workers’ union also took to Twitter to congratulate workers at Lawless and Stilheart on unionizing.
