Minnesota’s Indeed Brewing Unionizes
April 5, 2024 – Indeed Brewing, the Minneapolis based brewery founded in 2011, will soon be the next unionized brewery in the state of Minnesota, after an organization drive proved successful yesterday.
Hospitality union Unite Here Local 17 announced that 80% of the company’s 32 person hourly team signed union cards, and management has agreed to not challenge the union.
“UNITE HERE Local 17 and Indeed Brewing Company have together agreed to immediately enter into good faith negotiations,” reads a statement from the union, “with the intent of providing a clear path to that fair process through a Labor Peace Agreement.”
Indeed Brewing was founded by Thomas Whisenand, Rachel Anderson, and Nathan Berndt, and opened their first taproom in the Logan Park neighborhood in 2012, which was followed by a second location in Milwaukee in 2018. The brewery faced criticism in 2021 for its allegedly toxic work culture and sexist environment, including criticism from one of its founders. Rachel Anderson published a post online called “I Am a Craft Beer Casualty” that detailed her ouster from management, and claimed that she had not seen any profits from the business since being forced out shortly after taking maternity leave.
“Indeed has always prioritized the people who make this company run. When it became clear that our people desired to organize, we were excited to honor that next step toward a better workplace,” said Ryan Bandy, who began serving as the company’s Chief Business Officer last year. “We’ve seen a lot of change at Indeed in the 12 years since we opened, and we’re looking forward to working together to usher in this next phase of Indeed.”
The union will now have to work through procedural hurdles before the brewery is officially unionized, but that process will be significantly shortened by management’s cooperation. When complete, Indeed will join other unionized breweries in Minnesota Fair State Brewing Cooperative and August Schell Brewing, both of which are also represented by Unite Here. A similar drive in 2020 by Surly Brewing employees came one vote short of passing, in a process that stoked allegations of union busting by management.