PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Seven Stars Bakery has made its first notable charge since its employees unionized last summer.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local Union 328 announced that employees at all five Seven Stars locations voted unanimously to approve their first contract.
The contract includes significant pay raises and guaranteed minimum hours for both full- and part-time employees.
Through the contract, current employees will see an increase in hourly pay from $9 to $13. New hires would start at $10 an hour and would receive a raise the following year.
With their workers receiving raises, the bakery has decided to change its tipping system.
Seven Stars sent an email to customers Tuesday alerting them of the change.
“We’ve worked hard to make our tip screens as respectful and discreet as possible,” the email reads. “We now include prompts as low as 5% to reflect the reality of increased prices resulting from significantly higher ingredient and labor costs.”
While everyone is pleased with the raises, employees like Izzie Cossey are concerned that the tipping system changes weren’t discussed with workers outside management.
“It feels like there’s been a big lack of communication,” Cossey said. “We just want [the bakery] to be transparent with us. We don’t want to have to go through the grievance process.”
More 100 workers joined UFCW Local 328 last June.
