Employees at San Francisco’s famed bakery Tartine sent a letter to management Thursday requesting management immediately recognize their right to join a union. On Monday, management finally responded: No. At least, not yet.

Tartine workers started organizing almost a year ago to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the same union that Anchor Brewing workers joined last year. They held a rally last week, drawing a large crowd to the Mission District in support.

The organizing process begins by collecting signed cards from employees that state they support joining a union. With cards from at least 70% of Tartine’s more than 200-person workforce at the original Tartine Bakery, restaurant-bakery Tartine Manufactory, Tartine in the Inner Sunset and Tartine in Berkeley, Tartine workers asked management to accept the unionization effort. Since management declined, workers on Monday filed for an election through the National Labor Relations Board. The vote will likely take place in March.

Agustin Ramirez, an organizer with the union, said in his experience, the majority of business owners decline to recognize the card process and instead force the election. This was the expected result.

Tartine co-founders Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson and chief operating officer Christopher Jordan responded with a letter that was posted around Tartine locations Monday afternoon. They explained that declining the union’s request would ensure Tartine employees have the chance to become more informed about the union and potentially change their minds about joining it after hearing from Prueitt, Robertson and other employees.

“Several letter signers have told us they felt pressured to sign and never intended that their signing a union card would be used as the equivalent of a binding ‘vote’ to unionize Tartine before our opinions are shared with you and you are fully informed,” they wrote in the letter.

They hired a team of consultants to teach everyone who works at Tartine about their legal rights and obligations if employees joined a union. The process will start with town hall meetings at the four participating locations this week.

Tartine Bakery barista Pat Thomas, who supports the union, said he agrees it’s important for Tartine employees to fully understand what joining a union would mean.

Thomas and several other workers at Tartine told The Chronicle they want to join a union to fight for better pay, job protections and more consistent scheduling. Many Tartine employees earn minimum wage, and some work two or three jobs due to the high cost of living in the Bay Area.

Another motivating factory was Tartine’s rapid expansion — there are now 10 locations across the Bay Area, Los Angeles and South Korea with more in the works — which some employees described as evidence of the company’s corporatization.

“It’s really losing its San Francisco homegrown vibe,” Tartine Manufactory barista Emily Haddad told The Chronicle last week.

Prueitt, Robertson and Jordan don’t agree with such descriptions.

“This cannot be further from the truth and we want a chance to respond to these mischaracterizations and falsehoods,” they wrote.

They also stated there has been bullying and misinformation spread online about Tartine, which they described as “an example of how the union and its supporters will attempt to tarnish Tartine’s reputation if they do not get what they want.”

The restaurant industry is a challenging place to unionize because managers work closely with workers in a tight environment day-to-day, thus having many opportunities to spread an anti-union message, according to Teófilo Reyes, research director at restaurant worker advocacy nonprofit Restaurant Opportunities Centers United.

“I hope that Tartine and their hired consultants will act in good faith during this process as the ILWU has for 82 years,” said Matthew Torres, a barista at Tartine in Berkeley who supports joining the union, via text message.

Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker