The Magic Is In The Union!
When Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon founded Voodoo Doughnut in 2003, they envisioned a doughnut shop that combined quality hospitality with their daring do-it-yourself brand of show business. Now, in 2020, the Voodoo Doughnut workforce is aiming at a similar goal -- to create a daring do-it-yourself union that will insure the rights, well being, and the safety of all of its crew members.
We, the Voodoo Doughnut Workers Union ask, above all, that the company's ideals be mirrored in the care of its staff. We believe that fair compensation and safety for all workers throughout the 22 SW 3rd Ave restaurant is essential to ensuring its success: salaries, wages, safety concerns, and benefits at the restaurant must be sustainable for everyone.
​
We have come together to collectively improve our workplace conditions. Forming a union will enable us—as well as future Voodoo Doughnut employees—to effectively advocate for changes that will make Voodoo Doughnut a more sustainable and equitable institution. We believe in Voodoo Doughnut and its mission; we want it to succeed, but we also recognize a need for critical changes at this moment in the restaurant’s growth. We are asking that Voodoo Doughnut, and it’s management team, respect our democratic right to organize without interference and bargain with us in good faith for a contract that will ensure the restaurant’s future as a beacon of diversity, equity, and progress.
In light of the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak, the immediate demands of the union are that the company offer severance pay to all workers laid off due to the crisis, and to all employees who will be affected by future layoffs due to the crisis. We are also asking that all promised PTO be paid out to all employees laid off due to the crisis, and all future employees which will be laid off due to said crises if requested by the employee to do so.
Furthermore, we are asking that when the company resumes regular business staffing, and is able to offer these workers their jobs back, that proper security will be provided by the company at its 22 SW 3rd Ave location due to increasing attacks and actions against its staff. And lastly, that the company commit to not wasting valuable resources hiring a union busting law firm, and/or an “employee relations” firm. It is our hope that the company bargains in good faith amicably and quickly with the Voodoo Doughnut Workers Union, and is willing to hear the future demands of its employees regarding their general health, safety, and wellbeing.
Sincerely,
​
Voodoo Doughnut Workers Union
