Workers at Brooklyn Strategist Demand Recognition with Workers United

Workers at the Brooklyn Strategist, a popular board game cafe in Cobble Hill, demanded voluntary union recognition as the Brooklyn Strategist Workers Union, as part of Tabletop Workers United, on Wednesday by confronting owner Jon Freeman with a petition signed by more than 75% of workers. Freeman is co-owner of Hex & Co in Manhattan, where workers also demanded union recognition last month.

"Morale among staff members is low due to ineffective and retributive management, unfair compensation for our labor, a lack of security in our jobs, and management's protection of problematic and abusive employees," the workers wrote in their letter to Freeman. "In the past, you have commented that a union would destroy the 'flexibility and friendly work environment' of The Brooklyn Strategist. We are unionizing because our experiences as employees have been neither flexible, nor friendly."

"Gaming is, at its core, about collaboration and competition. We are asking you for voluntary recognition so that we may, together, collaborate to address the issues your employees face and ask you to offer a competitive wage to the fields in which the business operates. The motto of Brooklyn Strategist is 'Up Your Game'—all we are asking is that you hold true to that motto by upping your game and doing better by the people who work so hard to make your business profitable." Read more here.