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The push to unionize Philly’s food scene | Morning Newsletter

Summer job searching.

A person holds a sign supporting coffee workers at Good Karma Cafe during a rally at City Hall to support unionization among coffee workers in Philadelphia on May 1.
A person holds a sign supporting coffee workers at Good Karma Cafe during a rally at City Hall to support unionization among coffee workers in Philadelphia on May 1.Read moreELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer
    by Ashley Hoffman
    Published 

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

Mother’s Day will include more rain and the forecast high, 52, would be the lowest top temperature for May 8 in 75 years.

In today’s newsletter:

🍱 Comprehensive: A look at why restaurant employees are unionizing.

💰Convenient: Let us help you with your summer job search in Philly.

🧩 Mind-bending: Our regular fun and games.

If you see this 🔒 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.

— Ashley Hoffman (@_AshleyHoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Unions are coming to Philly’s food scene. How will its small business owners respond?

🎤 And now, I’m passing the mic to reporter Jenn Ladd to present her deeply reported story on the people of the food scene.

I’ve been talking to service-industry workers about working conditions for months, and while some had interest in unionizing, far more expressed skepticism that bars and restaurants could organize. There’s been good reason for that skepticism: Pandemic-era efforts to organize fizzled at places like Dock Street and Cake Life Bake Shop. But the current push to organize Philly’s food scene feels different, in part because it’s more formal.

Workers at Korshak Bagels and Good Karma Cafe have formed unions recognized by the National Labor Relations Board, as have workers at The Wayward restaurant and its adjoining hotel. Old City Coffee organizers narrowly lost a vote to unionize last month, and five Philly Starbucks stores will vote soon.

I wanted to take a look at why employees want to unionize, why small business owners are resistant to it, and whether there’s a way both parties might benefit from organizing.

What you should know today

  1. Johnny Doc offered Brendan Boyle union bodyguards during the Capitol insurrection.

  2. A George Norcross firm and partners got N.J. tax credits for Camden offices, years after task force scrutiny.

  3. I highly recommend lifeguarding, and that’s the first job that this list of resources can help you get.

  4. GOP ward leaders ousted one of their own Saturday after an Inquirer story highlighted his role in diverting dozens of mail ballots for Republican voters to a P.O. box under his control.

  5. Let’s brace ourselves for rainy, windy, and cold May weather.

  6. Leaving a legacy of good food, generosity, and an extreme devotion to his family, Richard “Richie” Neigre, the founder of Primo Hoagies, has died unexpectedly.

  7. Local Coronavirus Numbers: Here’s your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data.

💨🛍️💨🛍️💨🛍️💨🛍️💨🛍️💨🛍️💨🛍️💨🛍️💨🛍️

❓Pop Quiz❓

What did they call the fleet-footed delivery boys — the Grubhub of the 1910s — who “dashed through the sawdust, ferrying orders to in-town customers” in the early days of Reading Terminal Market?

A) Basil Boys

B) Market Brats

C) Newsies

D) Diamond Dashers

Find out if you know the answer.

🧩 Unscramble the Anagram 🧩

Frequented by the Hermit of the Wissahickon ...

ALICK EVES POUF

We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Email us if you know the answer. Cheers to David Heim who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Eric Snow.

Photo of the Day

And for today’s Sunday track, we’re listening to 🎶 Pressure going to drop on you, you, you 🎶

👋🏽 Enjoy today. I got to see my friends’ band Dirty Bird play in Philly this weekend, and they played really well.