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The union that represents Burgerville workers at four out of 10 Portland locations and the Vancouver, Wash.-based regional fast food chain have reached a tentative contract agreement after three years of bargaining.
The proposed contract, the first for fast-food workers in the nation, now goes to union members for a vote.
What ultimately tipped the scales after three years of bargaining, according to the union: Burgerville agreed to reinstate a credit card tipping system.
The company had removed the system over concerns that employees, not customers, were filling out the tip amount as most purchases moved from dining rooms to drive-thrus.
“The intention was to build a system that’s resilient and secure. And we have it. It’s there,” says Hillary Barbour, Burgerville’s director of strategic initiatives. “Any customer would want to make sure they had control over whether they tipped or not. When dining rooms were open, they could see it and do it. The drive-thru is a little clunkier. We got some new PIN pads that made it more secure.”
A union spokesman, Mark Medina, puts it more bluntly: “The tips were apparently so good that the company didn’t believe workers weren’t just stealing.”
Medina tells WW that when the new tipping system was tried out again at the Oregon Convention Center location this year, the average hourly wage came out to $22 to $25, compared with the beginning wage of $14.25.
“We can live with the situation of wages right now, as long as we can build a floor for workers in regards to everything else,” Medina says.
Other provisions that would be codified under the contract would change how paid vacation works and also offer workers a three-month schedule, instead of the standard three-week schedule.
Medina says the company pledged during bargaining to reopen the Burgerville location in Lents sometime this winter.
That location, at Southeast 92nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard, was shut down in August after Burgerville headquarters said its workers were reporting increased crime and vandalism around the shop. A company spokesperson told WW at the time: “The environment around the restaurant has deteriorated seriously. Police are now being called daily. Burgerville employees have found weapons, drug paraphernalia, and human waste on the property.”
Barbour says reopening the Lents location is “not part of the agreement” but adds the company is looking to reopen all of its closed shops. “We’re working on hiring and reopening all of those locations before the end of the year, including Lents, but that is not related to the contract or the agreement.”
The union said the closure came as a complete shock at the time. Three months later, Medina says he still hasn’t gotten answers about why the location closed its doors.
A fairly large homeless camp pitched tents alongside the Lents location, and when Burgerville shut its doors in August, campers told WW they worried it was an effort to put pressure on the city to sweep the camp.
“Customers who were using the drive-thru would complain about the unsightly camp nearby,” Medina says.
Barbour says the property has been monitored since its closure: “We are fencing off the area that’s Burgerville property to make that more secure. We’re continuing to have private security monitor the property, we’re working on de-escalation training for our employees, we’re continuing to clean up that area. We had to relocate some campers who were on Burgerviile property.”