Workers at a combination craft workshop and bar in North Portland asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) June 26 to hold a union election. And on June 30 the Portland chapter of grassroots Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) announced that their newly formed Craft Tenders Union was its newest affiliate.
Founded in 2017 and known as DIY Bar, the business is located at 3522 N Vancouver Ave, and until recently was employing as many as five or six part-time employees. By July 1, all three of its part-time employees were let go, and it was being operated solo by co-owner Adam Gorske. By email, Gorske the employees were laid off because he couldn’t afford them, not because they unionized.
If the NLRB had certified majority support for the union, the laid-off workers would have had rights under the National Labor Relations Act, and their employer would be obliged to bargain with them.Â
But in response to the petition, the company told the NLRB the company has too little revenue for the agency to have jurisdiction — just $487,421 last year. The NLRB limits its jurisdiction to employers with over $500,000 in gross sales. In a July 18 decision, the NLRB dismissed the petition.
