Employees at the Saxbys location at 40th and Locust streets began a unionization effort last week.
The Penn-adjacent location is the first Saxbys in recent memory to have initiated a unionization effort. The workers will join Workers United Local 80, a Philadelphia-based chapter of Workers United that primarily supports local baristas. The organization has previously worked with union members at cafes including Starbucks, Elixr, Bluestone Lane, and Green Line Cafe.
The union effort — which started at the location near Penn's campus — is currently working to go public and is pushing other nearby locations to join, Penn Saxbys team lead Han Waldman told The Daily Pennsylvanian.
“We as workers want our voices to be heard,” Waldman said. “We’re fighting for a real say in the workplace.”
Saxbys management did not respond to a request for comment.
Waldman added that the union plans to campaign for better wages, more stable schedules and hours, and the goal of “secure lives and [having] our basic needs met.”
The Saxbys union is the latest organization on or near Penn’s campus to enter a battle for better benefits. In the past year, Penn’s graduate student workers, resident advisors and graduate resident advisors, Penn Medicine residents and fellows, and Penn Libraries staff members have progressed in unionization efforts.
In January, workers at the 39th and Walnut streets Starbucks location — also represented by Workers United — voted to unionize, calling for higher wages, safer working conditions, racial and gender equity, fair scheduling, and respect. The store became the 11th in Pennsylvania to unionize and joined the efforts of nearly 400 other Starbucks stores nationwide, including two locations on Penn’s campus that unionized in 2022.
Waldman told the DP that the goal of the Penn Saxbys union is “to be the start of a bigger movement for more Saxbys workers, students or non-students, to fight for the right of a dignified workplace.”
“It's really wonderful; everyone has something to bring to the table,” they said. “It is wonderful to have solidarity with my fellow workers and just come together and as team members on the floor.”
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