Hours after announcing strike, Ultimo’s union reaches a contract agreement

Hours after the unionized workers of Ultimo Coffee announced they were striking, they arrived at a tentative contract agreement with owners Aaron and Elizabeth Ultimo. Ultimo Newbold and Rittenhouse will reopen Friday. An unfair labor practice charge the union cited as cause for the eight-hour strike will be withdrawn.

The agreement marked the resolution of 13 months of sometimes fractious negotiations between the union and the Ultimos. It came a week and day after the union called on customers to boycott the independent coffee shop’s four locations, an action that saw sales drop precipitously in the cafe’s two union shops. (Unions at Ultimo Germantown and Graduate Hospital decertified in January.)

“We’re glad to have been able to work with [the Ultimos] to reach something that both parties are happy with and that will benefit all of us,” said barista and lead negotiator Kate Lord. “We’re also very excited to be open and back to normal business tomorrow! We’re looking forward to seeing all of our regulars and thrilled to know that they can be assured that they are patronizing a business that supports their workers.”

The Ultimos likewise celebrated the tentative contract, with one note. “We are pleased to announce we have reached an agreement with our employees on a first contract (though we believe a strike was wholly unnecessary in order to reach this point today). We look forward to continuing to work with them and the Union.”

However brief, the union said its Thursday morning strike was precipitated by unilateral scheduling changes the Ultimos made during its boycott. The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board yesterday evening; the charge will be withdrawn as a condition of the tentative contract agreement.

The decision to strike came after a nine-hour bargaining session concluded Wednesday evening, having nearly resulted in a tentative contract agreement. Though the sticking point of that session revolved around higher base pay for existing Ultimo employees, the union decided after the meeting that a strike was necessary for a different reason.

“We decided that the unfair labor practice that was committed by them and the unilateral changes that they made, particularly to our schedules ... we couldn’t let that go,” Lord said Thursday morning.

The Ultimos, meanwhile, were caught off-guard by the strike, having left the meeting with all but one point of contention resolved. The two parties had settled several matters Wednesday night, including a higher guaranteed tipped rate, raise structures, paid time off accrual, health insurance, and other benefits. In some cases, Elizabeth Ultimo said, the contract terms they offered were better than what other independent coffee shop unions have agreed to in contracts ratified earlier this winter.

“We came to the table [Wednesday] with every intention of being done ... we’re wrecked,” Elizabeth Ultimo said Thursday morning. She added that she wished the union had agreed to involve a mediator in negotiations, a request the Ultimos’ attorney repeatedly made over the last year. “Months and months ago we could have gone faster.”

On Thursday afternoon, Lord felt the strike had made an impact. “Obviously something changed for them between last night and this afternoon,” she said. She also said the union had secured a $14 starting base wage and $1 per hour raise for all current workers.

She spoke for herself and 11 other union members when she said, “We are definitely happy with this agreement.”