First Avenue's 200 hospitality workers move to unionize

About 200 First Avenue workers are trying to unionize across the company's family of acclaimed Twin Cities music venues.

Workers from all seven sites notified First Avenue management Thursday of their intent to unionize. In interviews with the Star Tribune, employees cited low pay, inconsistent training and short-notice scheduling among their top concerns.

"Ultimately, we just want to be valued for the work that we're doing," said Anna Harris, 24, who's worked at First Avenue for about two years. "The club would not be the great First Avenue that it is today without the events staff inside."

Minneapolis-based First Avenue Productions could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

Its seven venues are First Avenue, 7th Street Entry, the Fitzgerald Theater, the Palace Theatre, the Turf Club, Fine Line and the Depot Tavern.

A supermajority — or more than 70% of the roughly 200 workers — voted to move forward with unionization. If the effort succeeds, all employees would be covered by the union.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, employees may begin bargaining if their employer recognizes their union. If that doesn't happen, workers must hold a union election, which would start with filing a petition with the National Labor Relations Board.

First Avenue workers said they hope management recognizes their union but are prepared to seek an election if not.

The unionization drive is the latest in a wave of organizing efforts in Minnesota and nationwide, fueled by gains made in worker rights during the pandemic as employees took advantage of a tight labor market.

If successful, the First Avenue employees — whose work includes collecting tickets, checking IDs, bartending and managing other workers on the floor — would join Unite Here Local 17, a hospitality union that represents workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and stadiums, hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs across Minnesota.

"We're inspired by the workers at First Ave.," Sheigh Freeberg, the union's secretary-treasurer, said in a statement. "Throughout this process, workers have demonstrated deep care for one another and for the role they play in the Twin Cities music community. Unite Here Local 17 hopes that workers across the service industry follow their lead. Everyone deserves respect and a voice at work."

Paul DeMaris, 40, an 18-year First Avenue employee and a driver of the unionization effort, said workers had floated the idea of a union in the past, but it didn't take until now. Attempts to bring concerns to managers have been unsuccessful, he said.

As the club has grown to include venues throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul, DeMaris said, "it's about time to make some positive changes on the inside, too."

First Avenue didn't host live music for more than a year during the pandemic, and workers were furloughed. Owner Dayna Frank led an effort to earmark federal COVID-19 relief money for shuttered independent arts venues as president of the National Independent Venue Association. The effort led to the $15 billion Save Our Stages Act.

The business received about $9.9 million through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program and a forgivable $1.5 million Paycheck Protection Program loan, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. A $500,000 disaster assistance loan was not forgivable.

When workers returned from furloughs, they were paid about $15 an hour, regardless of experience level, DeMaris said.

"Personally, it is kind of frustrating being like, I've put in 18 years at the place, and I'm training somebody for the same wage that they're getting," he said.

Workers say that wage — the hourly minimum in Minneapolis and St. Paul — isn't enough. Benefits aren't available to all workers, and days off are unpaid.

"For some of us, it's our only job, so it would be real nice to see some sort of benefits where it's like, 'OK, we do appreciate all the stuff that you guys do here,'" DeMaris said.

Workers can earn tips by working the venues' bars, but tipping varies by show and where a bar is located within a venue, said Tony Bosak, 37, who has worked at First Avenue for more than four years. Schedules come out four days in advance, making planning difficult, often leaving workers in a bind if they're not scheduled for one of the coveted bar shifts.

"If it wasn't for my tipped positions, I absolutely couldn't get the basic necessities to live," Bosak said.

For newer employees, it can be unclear how to move up the ranks to be able to bartend or work other higher-level shifts. Sporadic training contributes to the problem, workers said.

"A lot of the way that I have learned to do my job has been through my own coworkers stepping in and giving me pointers and just helping me learn to do the job," Harris said. "But I've never gotten any feedback from a manager about specifically what I'm doing wrong and how I can improve."

The Restaurant Opportunities Center Minnesota provided training for a group of First Avenue workers who approached the organization. The center then connected them to the hospitality union, said Sheli Stein, the center's lead organizer.

"We believe the first step in worker power is workers knowing their rights at work, and that includes the right to collective action," Stein said. "And so when workers came to us, we were able to work with them on their own education around their rights, around skills, on how to talk with their coworkers about issues at work and their right to organize collectively."

Workers said they're hopeful they'll be able to make improvements at the bargaining table and that, despite the problems, they're committed to their work.

"We can do better; we should be doing better," Bosak said. "Even with my issues, and they are major issues, I absolutely love my job. I can hardly see myself doing anything else at this point in my life."