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Gimme Coffee workers say their cooperative CBA shows just‑cause can work locally
Summary
A Gimme Coffee union representative described progressive discipline in the store’s collective bargaining agreement and said statutory just‑cause would protect nonunion workers; union members gave first‑hand accounts of how procedural protections support free speech and workplace safety.
Gianna Mercier, a five‑year employee at Gimme Coffee who spoke for the union, described how the company's collective bargaining agreement requires progressive discipline and protects employees from sudden terminations. "Employees may only be disciplined for just cause and with due regards to their reasonable rights is what is currently in our CBA," she said, explaining that the cooperative and union structures offer multiple checks and procedural steps that benefit both workers and employers.
Mercier and other union members offered brief testimonies describing constructive outcomes: employees received documented warnings, opportunities to improve and, in some cases, settlement or reinstatement rather than immediate termination. Committee members cited Gimme Coffee as an example of a model employers can emulate while discussing how municipal standards could raise protections for nonunionized workers. The presentation underscored the committee’s decision to include reinstatement or severance as potential remedies and to allow judges discretion or caps in draft language.
