Review on Labor Unions

If you can't sign 'em all, it may pay to go through the back door. That seems to be

the thinking of New York's Local 100, the Hotel Employees & Restaurant

Employees International Union, which has been pressing Manhattan's tony Angelo

& Maxie's Steakhouse to voluntarily recognize the union for kitchen staff who want

to join.

The American Federation of Labor, Congress of Industrial Organizations joined

local picketers on June 24 as part of a national campaign to embarrass businesses

that seem to be taking an anti-union stance. The popular and trendy spot's

respectful refusal of the union is, according to Bill Granfield, secretary-treasurer

from NY's Local 100, an all-too-common problem in many industries.

"The back-of-the house wants to organize, although the entire staff isn't interested

in joining," Granfield says, explaining that the sign up would only represent the

starting point of negotiating worker terms.

In the months since, employees and members of Local 100 have picketed at least

17 times outside the doors of the establishment to request union recognition as well

as affordable health insurance, a more positive work environment. The AFL CIO's

involvement in the case, and strategy of partial-unionization is seen by some

watchers of the labor movement as further evidence of union's increased

aggressiveness in organizing.

Angelo & Maxie's manager Richard Wolf refused to give an interview but did fax a

rebuttal, in which he noted that only a minority wanted unionization, and that all of

the charges posed by the union were false.

The divide-and-conquer approach, last seen three years ago in New York City, may

not be evident on a grand scale, but union activity has many operators concerned.

Partial organizations do have precedents. Jonathan Greenbaum, a labor attorney in

Washington, DC says that, the steakhouse, Sam and Harry's was a successful

back-of-the-house only organization there about four years ago and that the Palms

another...