Updated on Mon., March 18, 2019

Workers from Little Big Burger on Saturday announced their decision to join a shared union, the Industrial Workers of the World, with Burgerville employees during a rally in Northwest Portland on Saturday.

More than 100 workers and supporters gathered at Couch Park at 11 a.m., then walked to the Little Big Burger fast-food restaurant at Northwest 23rd Avenue and Lovejoy to present a formal letter to management requesting recognition of the union.

Little Big Burger employees say they want to improve working conditions and demand higher wages. They’ve also cited concerns about safety violations, short-staffing and under-scheduling of workers and poor training.

“We are out here to tell Little Big Burger that they can do better,” said Ashley Reyes, a worker at Little Big Burger on Northwest 23rd Avenue. “We have ideas about what that means - fair schedules, better wages, a safer workplace -- but for now we’re focusing on just telling LBB that we’re here, we’re strong and we’re not going away.”

In April 2016, workers at Burgerville’s Southeast 92nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard location made history by becoming the first in decades to organize a union drive at a fast-food establishment.

Members of the Industrial Workers of the World — better known as the Wobblies — helped launch the union campaign, which has been led by restaurant employees.

“The Burgerville Workers Union has always been proud of our status as the only fast-food union in the country, but today, we take far more pride in saying that we’re no longer alone,’’ the Burgerville union said in a statement issued Saturday. “We may have been the first, but we knew we would not be the last.’’

Little Big Burger has nine restaurants in the Portland metropolitan area. It’s a subsidiary of Chanticleer Holdings, Inc., and was founded in Portland in 2010. It’s known for its counter service, cooked-to-order burgers, truffle fries and root beer floats.

A new Facebook page called "Little Big Union,'' holds this slogan: "I cook, I bus, I serve, I’m Union!''

A representative of Chanticleer Holdings Inc. couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Saturday.

But on Monday, Jason Assad, a company spokesman, responded with this statement:

"Little Big Burger (“LBB”) supports and respects our employees rights to join or not join a labor union. We are not, and have never been, ;anti-union.' We do believe however, that this is an important decision and not one that should be made lightly. As such, it is our responsibility to ensure that all of our team members have the information that they need to make an informed choice. Above all, such a decision should not be made by just a few, or by the company itself. We support the rights of our team members to cast a vote in a fair, secret ballot election before choosing union representation.

It should go without saying, that we deeply value our Little Big Burger Associates, Key Employees and Managers, along with our guests that keep us all employed. Their support is invaluable and LBB wouldn’t exist without all of them. We also pride ourselves on being a hospitality driven business where our associates commitment to delivering exceptional guest services allow them the opportunity to earn tips which can result in unlimited income potential. We are very proud that year to date, the average Little Big Burger employee in the Portland Metro area has earned more than $17 per hour in taxable income.''

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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