The recent strike against Little Dog Coffee Shop in Brunswick is indicative of so much that’s wrong with this country at the moment. These employees don’t understand the history of labor unions and are making a mockery of the concept.
This isn’t the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. It’s not a sweatshop or a dangerous workplace environment. One barista, employed for a month, has reportedly had enough. Of what, exactly? No dishwashing solution and a broken coffee grinder? Who’s raising this dysfunctional, traumatized, anxiety-ridden generation, who needs safe spaces and trigger warnings to get through their days?
Support for unions is a no-brainer. Corporations like Amazon and Starbucks keeping their employees from collective bargaining agreements is enraging. This demands our collective outrage. Instead, we’re distracted by employees at a mom-and-pop. Threatening small businesses already struggling during the pandemic era is no joking matter.
Whoever owns this business may be guilty of careless management for other reasons, but it doesn’t sound like it. What’s undeniable is that these misguided employees and their union should be condemned for this abuse of the collective bargaining system meant to protect employee rights. They probably think they’re “fighting the good fight,” but they’re embarrassing themselves in broad daylight.
Raffi Morgan Christopher Sulahian
Yarmouth
Editor’s note (Aug. 21, 2023): This letter has been updated to contain the author’s full legal name.
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