Biscuit World union effort rooted in West Virginia history

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-lifestyle-health-west-virginia-2668bb1208fca484e82b017f8b43de19




Former Tudor's Biscuit World employee Jennifer Patton, 38, holds up stickers displaying the logo of the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400 union at her coworker's home in Elkview, W.Va., on Jan. 20, 2022. Patton said she was retaliated against and fired by management after she joined efforts to unionize the restaurant. Employees at the Elkview, W.Va., restaurant have already case ballots to decide whether or not they want to create a union. The votes will be read Tuesday. (AP Photo/Leah M. Willingham)


By LEAH WILLINGHAM

ELKVIEW, W.Va. (AP) — While making biscuits and meatloaf at a fast-food restaurant during the coronavirus pandemic, 64-year-old Cynthia Nicholson often thinks back to her husband’s coal mining days in West Virginia.

In that job and in his time as a pipefitter, she said, the work was grueling and sometimes dangerous — but there were standards for safety, working conditions and wages, and people felt they were treated fairly. She said that was because he belonged to unions.

At Tudor’s Biscuit World in Elkview, a franchise of a regional chain that serves comfort food, Nicholson says workers have no such protection. With the coronavirus surging, she doesn’t feel safe.

So, a few months ago she did the only thing that makes sense to her: She reached out to her late husband’s union friends and asked for help. On Tuesday, after months of organizing, National Labor Relations Board officials will count votes cast by some of the franchise’s roughly two dozen workers to find out if it will become the first unionized fast-food restaurant in the state.

FULL story at link at top.