Overview
On Thursday, November 2, 2023, select staff at the Twin Cities’ First Avenue music venues presented a petition requesting that management voluntarily recognize UNITE HERE Local 17, Minnesota’s hospitality workers’ union, as the bargaining agent for bartenders, service, and event staff. The next day, First Avenue Productions confirmed it would voluntarily recognize the union, allowing both parties to begin negotiating their first contract.
In its statement, the company said (full statement is available here):
“We recognize that our employees are a key to our success, and it is why we have continually worked to provide you with competitive pay, health insurance for anyone working more than 25 hours per week, 401k matching contributions, and more…[we] are committed to bargaining in good faith.
Bargaining in good faith will require everyone to look at the challenges we face as a whole, and how we can strengthen our workplace, incorporate more perspectives, and ultimately move forward together. While this might be difficult, and will inevitably result in change, I am committed to working together to address those challenges.”
This website is designed to provide updates regarding the bargaining process.
First Avenue Event Staff Unionization Timeline
- November 2, 2023 – Select staff at the Twin Cities’ First Avenue music venues presented a petition to management requesting voluntary recognition of UNITE HERE Local 17, Minnesota’s hospitality workers’ union, as the bargaining agent for bartenders, service and event staff.
- November 3, 2023 – First Avenue management voluntarily recognized the union and shared the decision with staff as well as with the public via a statement distributed to the media.
- November 16, 2023 – Introductory session.
- December 4, 2023 – Union negotiation committee and the First Avenue negotiation team had their first bargaining session. The parties expressed their shared desire to work together to attempt to reach a contract that is mutually beneficial, focusing first on non-economic subjects before turning to economic topics later in the process. The parties are scheduled to meet again in three more bargaining sessions later this month and in January.
- January 8/10, 2024 – Discussions were constructive as the parties continued to work toward agreement on contract language for operational/non-economic subjects. The parties successfully reached a variety of new tentative agreements in these sessions, including tentative agreement on various aspects of a comprehensive Grievance and Arbitration process as well as tentative agreements on various sections of the Union Rights Article and Discipline & Discharge Article from the Union’s initial proposed contract document.
- January 24, 2024 – The new tentative agreements reached in the January 24 bargaining session included agreement on the content of wage statements, a process for creation of new job classifications, computation of the regular rate of pay, lockers/secure space for belongings, a progressive discipline framework and pregnancy accommodations.
- February 15, 2024 – The new tentative agreements reached on February 15 included agreement on all aspects of a comprehensive grievance process, establishment of a safety and labor management committee, a union visitation protocol, and dress code language.
- March 7, 2024 – The parties continued to have respectful and constructive discussions on a variety of topics, resulting in new tentative agreements on several non-economic bargaining subjects, including agreement on a process to review and update safety communication protocols, gender identity language, certain training matters, job posting language, wearing of union buttons, wage deductions for voluntary political contributions, and PPE language.
- March 26 & April 16, 2024 – The negotiating committees met on March 26, which focused on working toward finding compromises on non-economic issues, including scheduling. Both sides agreed that an informal subcommittee might be helpful to advancing each side’s understanding of the parties’ different interests and the logistics involved in managing a schedule. This subcommittee met at Union Hall on April 16, 2024 and had a constructive discussion.
- May 6 & 17, 2024 – On May 6, contract negotiations resumed with approximately one-third of First Avenue employees sharing their personal experiences regarding the scheduling process. Management listened closely to their feedback and ideas, and reiterated its openness to working together to find ways to improve the process and how it is communicated to employees. The discussion regarding scheduling continued at the May 17, 2024 session, with the biggest issue being around how to account for seniority in the process. Both sides agreed that further analysis was needed and that the Union committee would have an updated scheduling proposal at the next bargaining session scheduled for June 14. The parties are also scheduled for bargaining on June 25.
- June 14, 2024 – The topic of scheduling continued to be the area of focus at the June 14 bargaining session. The Union committee shared a formal counterproposal to First Ave’s May 6 scheduling proposal, and the parties had candid and respectful dialogue regarding their different interests involved in scheduling as well as the areas where they share the same interests when it comes to scheduling. First Ave’s committee shared with the Union committee that certain language provisions of the Union’s June 14 scheduling counterproposal are acceptable “as is”, other provisions are acceptable with slight revisions, and the remainder of the proposal where the parties are farther apart will be addressed with a formal counterproposal at the next session scheduled for June 25. The First Ave negotiating team reiterated its appreciation for employees on the committee and those who took the time to share their perspective on this important topic, and both parties agreed to continue to work to try to come to a tentative agreement on the topic of scheduling at the next bargaining session as part of the larger goal of getting to an overall contract as soon as possible.
- June 25, 2024 – First Ave’s bargaining team circulated its scheduling counter proposal to the Union’s June 14th proposal ahead of this meeting, which was the focus of this session. The meeting was constructive and the discussion resulted in both sides reaching more than a dozen tentative agreements relating to scheduling, such as advanced 2 week notice of scheduling, how quickly employees are notified, the criteria used to determine scheduling, time off requests, and several definitions that will help implement a process. First Ave also agreed to the Union’s request to create a scheduling and training committee that will meet quarterly to discuss this topic. Both parties remain apart on the issue of how venue seniority will be determined, but agreed to discuss this at the next bargaining session which is scheduled for July 9. Another session is scheduled for July 22.
- July 9, 2024 – This bargaining session again focused on the topic of scheduling, and several new tentative agreements were reached concerning details of a scheduling process. Members of both negotiating committees also had constructive discussions around how First Ave can communicate schedules and receive information about individual availability and preferences through a centralized system for employees to easily access. The issue of how venue seniority should be measured and whether/how the number of hours worked should matter continues to be a sticking point. The previously scheduled July 22 session has been rescheduled due to a Union conflict for August 8, with an additionally scheduled meeting on August 19. Ahead of those sessions, the First Ave bargaining team and the Union agreed to provide follow-up information and exchange further proposals via email to keep the process moving.
- August 8, 2024 – We made significant progress on the scheduling topic. Four new tentative agreements on aspects of the scheduling process were reached, and the committees discussed the Union’s proposed new concept of an on-call/casual status for certain employees as well. The committees continued their robust discussion concerning the method of measuring seniority, including the details and rationale for the First Ave bargaining team’s desire for a venue seniority system tied to the number of events worked. In addition to the four new tentative agreements regarding scheduling, the parties also reached three new tentative agreements on union buttons, new position postings and recall rights language. The Union committee indicated it would provide an updated scheduling proposal at the next bargaining session which is scheduled for August 19.
- August 19, 2024 – This session resulted in four new tentative agreements relating to a range of topics. Both sides continued to exchange proposals around how to define “Venue Seniority,” for scheduling. First Avenue has proposed establishing a “working seniority” system where workers accrue more seniority the more events they work, which would start from 1/1/2017 (the date the current ownership took over). The Union has advocated for seniority being set from the date someone is hired irrespective of how much they work. Both sides also scheduled four additional bargaining sessions for September 4, September 23, October 3, October 21, and October 29 and agreed to start the September sessions earlier to attempt to make additional progress as soon as possible.
- September 4, 2024 – The parties had constructive discussion on the outstanding bargaining topics as they near the end of operational topics that will allow them to focus on economic subjects, such as wages and benefits. Both sides agreed to formal written language for the tentative agreements reached on August 19. The next bargaining sessions are scheduled for September 23, October 3, October 21, and October 29.
- September 23, 2024 – One new tentative agreement was reached and venue seniority was the main topic discussed at this session. The Union was joined by more than 60 employees, many of whom spoke about why they strongly believe that venue seniority should be based solely on an individual’s hire date (as opposed to the “working seniority” system briefly described in the August 19 update). First Ave listened to their views and said it would consider the arguments they made, but also reiterated the merits of a “working seniority” system – which First Ave strongly prefers. At the end of the session, the Union presented its opening economic proposal for wages and benefits, and First Ave said it would review and respond at the next session, scheduled for October 3.
Since voluntarily recognizing the Union last fall, we are proud that these deliberative and respectful conversations such as these, over nearly 20 formal bargaining sessions, have resulted in approximately 100 tentative agreements – strengthening our workplace, incorporating more perspectives, and moving forward together. This was our goal at the outset and as we move forward with further discussions around the Union’s economic proposals. We will continue to evaluate each proposal on its merits and with the goal of reaching a fair and sustainable agreement that both recognizes our employees contributions and ensures we can continue to operate a sustainable business.
Full Statement from First Avenue Productions CEO Voluntarily Recognizing the Union
Friday, November 3, 2023
First Avenue has been home to transcendent performances and a springboard and spotlight for artists across the globe. It isn’t just a music venue – it is uniquely Minneapolis, and uniquely Minnesota.
I have always felt protective of this place. It has never been an option to allow First Avenue to be gobbled up by a corporate conglomerate, who would treat it more like a cash register than a temple to artists, and a space that is responsive to our community. Today, we still are forced to compete with multinational and publicly traded entities – who own copycat venues and the ticketing companies – and who are headquartered far away from Minnesota.
In this way, First Avenue and our other venues, are an island away from broad mass market appeal and strive to be places that lift up artists and people who view the world differently – it is why so many people love and are connected to our venues.
Behind our venues are the people who bring in artists and make the concerts magical, they are you, the Minnesotans who recognize beauty and know how to help artists showcase it. We recognize that our employees are a key to our success, and it is why we have continually worked to provide you with competitive pay, health insurance for anyone working more than 25 hours per week, 401k matching contributions, and more. So when our bartenders, service, and event staff expressed their desire to form a union, there was only one answer, which is why we will voluntarily recognize the union, and are committed to bargaining in good faith.
Bargaining in good faith will require everyone to look at the challenges we face as a whole, and how we can strengthen our workplace, incorporate more perspectives, and ultimately move forward together. While this might be difficult, and will inevitably result in change, I am committed to working together to address those challenges.