Chipotle may have violated workers’ unionization rights, US labor board says

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Chipotle Mexican Grill may have violated federal labor law in its treatment of employees at its only unionized store, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

The commission said late Monday that its Detroit regional manager had found the allegations against Chipotle by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to be true. The union alleges that Chipotle illegally disciplined a Lansing, Michigan, employee for participating in union activity and told employees that the fast-food chain could not give them pay raises because they were union members.

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The regional manager denied the allegation that Chipotle illegally withheld credit card tips from union workers. The allegation that Chipotle illegally used surveillance techniques on its employees is still under investigation.

The National Labor Relations Board said that if Chipotle and the truckers union do not reach a settlement, the board’s general counsel could file claims against the company, which would be heard by the board’s administrative law judge.

Chipotle workers in Lansing voted to unionize two years ago, becoming the first of the company’s 3,500 locations to do so amid a broader unionization push across the country.

Chipotle respects workers’ right to organize and has been negotiating in good faith with the Lansing store, Lori Schalow, director of corporate affairs, said in a statement. Schalow blamed the union for the long delay in scheduling negotiations.

But the truckers union accused Chipotle in a statement of stalling and retaliating against workers to prevent the union from reaching a fair labor agreement.

“The National Labor Relations Board made the right decision by determining that our claims have merit,” the union said.

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Chipotle has violated labor law before. Last year, the company agreed to pay $240,000 to former employees in Augusta, Maine. Chipotle closed the Augusta restaurant after workers there petitioned for union elections, a move the National Labor Relations Board ruled was illegal.

Chipotle’s record may come under further scrutiny now that its chairman and CEO, Brian Niccol, has been hired by Starbucks. Niccol is set to start working at Starbucks on Sept. 9.

Starbucks also opposed unionization when its workers first voted to unionize at one of its stores in Buffalo, New York, in 2022. But since then, more than 460 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize. Starbucks and its union, Workers United, agreed earlier this year to resume talks and try to reach a labor agreement.

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