NYC

She Wolf Bakery Workers Win Union Vote Following Controversy

Andrew Tarlow’s bakery now officially has a union

by Eater Staff 

 Feb 20, 2024, 
She Wolf Bakery workers have voted “yes” to unionize. She Wolf Bakery

She Wolf Bakery has voted to unionize. The fate of the union remained in the balance up until today’s vote. Earlier in February, some workers advocating for the union passed around a zine that depicted the bakery’s owner Andrew Tarlow in an antisemitic caricature.

“Normally I wouldn’t discuss workplace or employee issues publicly,” Tarlow told Eater on February 9. “However, the union organizers have been talking out of both sides of their mouths. How can you claim to want to advance equity and yet employ such discriminatory tactics? I want all of our employees to know the truth and make informed decisions.”

The workers apologized, stating that it was done not out of malice, but rather accident. “We now recognize how that image is hurtful and offensive,” they wrote. “That was not our intent, but we understand the impact. When constructing the zine we pulled images from a random book of illustrations and used that image thoughtlessly. We’re very sorry for our ignorance.... Throughout this process, we’ve made it a priority to never attack you or our managers because we honestly have nothing but respect and admiration towards the management team. We hope we can continue this process of unionizing together with care and forgiveness.”

Following coverage of the zine, Tarlow took to Instagram in a since-deleted caption. The post was flooded with some comments about the restaurateur as an industry trailblazer. But several alums of Marlow Collective — including AD Dunn, who co-wrote a Tarlow cookbook — have since stated publicly that Tarlow’s Instagram post toed the line of union busting.

That created a high-tension lead-up for this week’s vote for She Wolf bakery, which supplies not only to Tarlow’s restaurants — like Marlow & Sons and Diner — as well to other restaurants across the city and GrowNYC greenmarkets. The union was first announced in January with the hopes of improving working conditions, pay, and more.

Through a spokesperson for Marlow Collective, the restaurant group stated: “Today a majority of She Wolf Bakery hourly employees elected to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. We respect their decision and look forward to negotiating in good faith with the Union.”