Lamplighter Brewing Co. workers vote to join union

Food News

A press release said the staff at the Cambridge brewery is moving forward with bargaining for their first contract.

Lamplighter Brewing Co. staff has voted to unionize, according to a press release. Adam DeTour

Lamplighter Brewing Co. staff have successfully voted to unionize, joining a union organization that represents workers in food, retail, and other industries across Massachusetts.

A press release on Monday said the Cambridge brewery’s workers voted Friday to join United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1445, the local chapter of an international labor union that represents workers in cannabis, grocery, health care, retail, food packing and processing, warehouses, laundries, and concessions. Union president Fernando Lemus said that UFCW Local 1445 has also represented workers in the brewery, distillery, and winery industries.

What comes next is bargaining for the brewery workers’ first contract that would impact staff at both Lamplighter’s Broadway and Cambridge Crossing locations.

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In a statement from Cambridge Crossing’s lead bartender Gabe Packevicz, the issues that workers want to negotiate include “wages, benefits, health care, and workplace safety.”

“I’m proud to work in a place where all of the staff — from production and kitchen, to the front of house and sales team, to the people who clean every morning — have a seat at the table,” read a statement Ryan McFarland, lead bartender at Lamplighter’s Broadway location.

Lamplighter workers had announced their plans to unionize last summer, according to The Boston Globe. They filed to unionize with UFCW Local 1445 in early February.

The unionization news comes a decade after Lamplighter opened in 2016, first at its Broadway location. The Cambridge Crossing location opened in 2022, and their beer is also sold at restaurants and stores in Massachusetts and a few sites in other northeastern states.

The unionized Lamplighter workers also join a wave of other restaurant and bar industry workers who have unionized in recent years, mainly in the cafe space.

Boston.com reached out to Lamplighter Brewing for comment but didn’t hear back before publication.

Katelyn Umholtz

Food and Restaurant Reporter

Katelyn Umholtz covers food and restaurants for Boston.com. Katelyn is also the author of The Dish, a weekly food newsletter.

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