Heine Bros. union announces tentative agreement for labor contract

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A union representing workers of a Louisville-based coffee shop chain announced they have reached an agreement for a new labor contract offering workers higher wages, additional time off and more.

Heine Bros. Coffee workers organized through NCFO 32J SEIU and won a union election back in September, which began bargaining for a fair contract among the coffee chain’s workers.

The union said less than a year after organizing for unionization, the tentative agreement was reached between Heine Bros. and its workers.

“This tentative agreement would provide an additional week of paid leave to full-time employees, guarantees a schedule that is fair and honors the seniority and full-time/part-time status of workers, ensures transparency about how much is in the tip-pool and how it is split, and ensures significant increases in base hourly wages for current and future employees throughout the contract,” a statement from the NCFO-SEIU reads.

The contract includes increased holiday time and PTO accrual, as well as ensuring access to more hours for full-time employees.

“After a lot of hard work and good faith commitment by all involved over the last five months, we are excited to confirm that we have reached a tentative agreement with our employee bargaining committee,” Mike Mays, Heine Bros. President and Co-founder said in a statement. “The agreement will now go to our full employees’ bargaining group for approval, and we are hopeful that it will pass. We look forward to working together to keep our company a great place to work that delivers remarkable coffee shop experiences to our customers.”

Union workers will vote to ratify the new contract in an upcoming meeting.