Woodstock’s Pizza employees to vote on unionization this month

Woodstock’s Pizza in Santa Cruz could soon become a union shop after employees took steps earlier this year to form their own labor union.

Employees at the downtown pizzeria reached out earlier this year to the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC), a national organization that started during the pandemic to help employees across industries secure safer working conditions. It was launched as a partnership of the Democratic Socialists of America and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. 

Earlier this month, a group of employees calling themselves the Woodstock’s Employee Alliance held a rally outside the Front Street pizzeria to call attention to their cause. At the rally, employees emphasized that they loved their jobs and coworkers but were concerned about long hours and stagnant wages amid ongoing national economic uncertainty.

Lili McLaughlin, who has worked at Woodstock’s for about three years and is currently a shift lead, began talking with fellow employees about unionizing earlier this year after realizing they weren’t going to be getting a raise like they had in prior years. On top of that, McLaughlin said employees were working longer hours and serving more customers. 

“More than anything, we want to protect the rights of ourselves and our fellow employees,” said Jamie Cunin, who has worked at Woodstock’s for just over a year and became involved with the unionization efforts a few months ago.

In a petition posted to the site Change.org, members of Woodstock’s Employee Alliance called on management and the public to support their efforts. “Us Woodstock’s workers have poured our hearts and souls into making Woodstock’s an incredible place for our community,” they wrote. “Our love for this job and the joy it brings to so many is what fuels us. However, to protect our ability to work here and to ensure we receive competitive wages, it is essential that we form a union.”

Notably, Woodstock’s employees have opted to pursue their own independent union rather than aligning with an established labor union. A key aspect of that is that employees wanted to ensure their union would cover a wide swath of the team, including different job roles. About 70 to 80 employees would be covered by the union. 

These efforts only involve employees at Woodstock’s Santa Cruz location, not the company’s other locations in California, which include Davis, Isla Vista, San Diego, Chico and Pacific Beach. 

Local management declined to comment on the unionization efforts. 

Jeb Purucker, a Santa Cruz-based organizer with EWOC, said he and his colleagues have been helping the workers navigate the unionization process through the National Labor Relations Board. Employees initially sent a letter to management asking them to voluntarily recognize the union, but management declined, according to Purucker. 

This past week, the workers signed what’s known as a stipulated election agreement with Woodstock’s management and the NLRB. This sets the date, time and place for the election and determines who is eligible to vote. Employees will next officially vote whether to unionize on July 31 and Aug. 1. 

“At the end of the day, it is a scary thing,” said McLaughlin of the unionization efforts and upcoming vote. “But there’s been a lot of consensus and support from our fellow coworkers and community members.”

Woodstock’s isn’t the only local business making union moves. Last week, the Starbucks at 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive just became the area’s sixth location of the national coffee chain to unionize. Check out Max Chun’s story here.

The recent local unionizing efforts come in light of a study released earlier this year by UC Santa Cruz and UCLA that found high rates of interest in unionization among young workers in Santa Cruz County. A survey of nearly 2,000 county workers, students and residents between the ages of 18 and 34 who weren’t currently part of a union indicated that 44% of respondents said they would join a union. Another 37% indicated they were “union curious.”

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