Workers at New Downtown Music Venue Organize Union » Urban Milwaukee

Hospitality workers at the Landmark Credit Union Live concert hall have organized a union.

Workers at the new 4,500-seat venue in the Deer District organized with the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH). A card count, tallying the number of workers who signed union authorization cards, was held Wednesday afternoon in the office of Milwaukee County Board Chair Marcelia Nicholson Bovell, who served as a third-party observer.

In the end, 81 workers, or 93% of the bargaining unit, signed authorization cards. The new union represents employees of Levy Restaurants working in hospitality roles at the venue, including cooks, dishwashers, bartenders, servers, admission workers, bussers, hosts, barbacks and runners.

MASH had previously negotiated a neutrality and contract agreement with Levy, ensuring the hospitality company would not interfere with organizing and would respect the outcome of a card check. It is the same agreement MASH had with Levy when it organized workers at Fiserv Forum, said MASH President Peter Rickman. A Levy representative, Matt Haughn, was on hand for the card count but declined to comment.

Union steward Luther Rivers was elated by the successful union campaign. He watched as Nicholson Bovell went through the union authorization cards one by one, verifying signatures against an employee roster.

“I wanted to organize [Levy co-workers] because it brings balance between the employer and the employee. So therefore we have a fair shot and a fair seat at the table.”

Rivers said he hopes the union will be a boon to employee morale at the new venue, which opened in February. The $70 million venue was developed by Live Nation and its subsidiary FPC Live at 1051 N. Vel R. Phillips Ave. on the former Bradley Center site.

The “incredibly civil, non-adversarial process” for organizing and recognizing a union on display Wednesday should serve as an example for other employers to follow, Rickman said. “Levy deserves credit for handling this like adults, like people who want to be part of the fabric of a community where workers are treated with dignity and respect,” he said.

Not far from Landmark Credit Union Live, MASH faced a withering union-busting campaign by NCG Hospitality when employees of The Trade Hotel attempted to organize a union. The union is also attempting to secure a contract for employees of Anodyne Coffee. The ownership group, FairWave Holdings LLC, has not been negotiating in good faith, according to the union, which has started posting fliers asking supporters to help them demand a fair contract.

“This is how it should be: when the majority of workers want a union, they should get their union,” he said. “When a majority of workers want to sit down and negotiate a contract, they should get a contract.”

With the successful card check Wednesday, MASH now represents about 1,300 service and hospitality workers in the Milwaukee area, according to Rickman. “And growing,” Rivers said.

Workers at Landmark Credit Union Live, who are employed by Live Nation and FPC Live, are working to organize the rest of the venue staff: roughly 200 workers, including ushers, security, cleaning staff and venue operations. MASH also has a neutrality and card check agreement with Live Nation and FPC Live, Rickman said.

Nicholson Bovell, who provided her office as a venue for the card check, is a former organizer with the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association and MASH, though it was her first time serving as a third-party observer for such a count.

“It was exciting. I was glad I was asked to do it,” she said. “This is personal to me. My parents were union members. I was a union member as a teacher-organizer, and formerly at MASH, and I know firsthand how unions lift people out of poverty and help contribute to the community and make it stronger.”

The next step for the new union is to bargain a contract. Rickman said there is a chance the contract will be rolled into a larger collective bargaining agreement representing workers at the new music venue and Fiserv Forum, but such a deal is subject to negotiations with Levy.