Is Chipotle GROUND ZERO for Next WILDFIRE Union Wave? | Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

Ex chipotle service manager here. The entire thing is a house of cards. Corners are being cut in regards to food safety (fudging temps, no time to clean, rotating prepared food inventory), turnover is extremly high, we were usually always understaffed and overworked, and restaurantur is an impossible standard to achieve for almost every store. Chipotle doesn't utilize pre cut vegetables like other chains, it instead prides itself on serving fresh quality food fully prepared in store which is a very unique model in the "fast food" industry. In order to achieve those high standards, many items need to be prepped. Bags and crates of produce needs to be cleaned, peeled, and chopped by hand before they can go into all the food items served. It takes hours. We were always running out of food items because there was never an adequate amount of crew members educated enough to help prep it all. Crew training was once comprehensive and efficient, and the pay competitive but not anymore. Everything seems to have been sacrificed in the name of the bottom line. I haven't even mentioned their explosive online sales which have crippled many existing understaffed stores. I worked there for 2 years and we were never allowed to give more than 5-20 cent raises every 6 months. If you enjoy eating at Chipotle (like I do) then you should support its workers. Unionization is a win for both workers and customers. Wish you all the best of luck with your union!

It's nice to hear from real people involved

I worked at Chipotle for a few months back in 2017. I never missed a single shift until I had to call out because I had the flu. My manager asked for a doctor’s note which I didn’t have because 1) I didn’t have health insurance and 2) I could recover at home just fine. After that I was quietly fired (taken off the schedule without any notice). They didn’t deposit my last paycheck on payday and after a month and a half of being ghosted by the manager I had to report them to the state labor relations board to get paid.

Way to go Chipotle workers!

Great segment! Real people and their real and insightful experiences! Love the “let them eat cake!“ moment.

I was a service manager there for 4 years and it was not great. During COVID my entire store got excluded due to COVID and I had to run the store with only 5 employees. They let us close at 4 since they were so kind but it was chaos nonstop until then and I had to stay each night for at least 2 hours to catch up on prep work. They gave me a backpack as a reward.

Unfortunately, this segment is genuinely making me crave Chipotle. I love their food and support this unionization!

I'm a member of Local 100 at UBS arena working for Delaware North. Management keeps pushing the contract negotiation date. Nice to see Chipotle unionizing.

US labor laws since Taft-Hartley (1947) have been largely structured to corral and control worker discontent into company by company struggles, rather than permitting sector-wide solidarity as the old industrial unions and IWW attempted to build. That should be a focus for any real labor law reform, easing the way for workers in a particular sector to negotiate cooperatively with multiple companies at the same time. Union membership should also be transportable within those agreements, not lost and regained when moving between companies. Union membership should follow the person, not the job site.

Biggest mistake is that they joined the teamsters union. The teamsters sold out their members years ago. Best thing to do is start new unions . The old ones have all sold out. Here in NYC the teamsters are a joke. Employers aren’t afraid of the teamsters at all and recruitment is at an all time low due to all the “gatekeepers”