Workers from Bruegger’s Bagels’ Iowa City location protested Saturday, attempting to get the franchise to recognize “Bruegger’s Workers United,” the first union formed within Bruegger’s nationwide.

“What we really wanted to do with this picket was get community support so that the people at the union feel more comfortable speaking out and showing their faces to management as people who are wanting change,” said Juniper Hollis, a former worker at Bruegger’s Coralville location.

About 10 workers from both locations showed up to the picket outside the Iowa City location at 708 S. Riverside Drive, holding signs that said “Honk if you hate union busting” and “Bruegger’s Workers United.”

“What’s happening is not right,” Hollis said. “Not only is it illegal, but it’s unethical, and it’s something that we are here to fight against.”

Workers from two Bruegger’s locations in Iowa, one in Coralville and one in Iowa City, announced their intention to form an independent union on May 29. Just days later, on May 31, the franchise announced it would close one of those two stores.

The Coralville location was the store that closed its doors, Hollis said. Workers allege it was retaliatory for the union formation announcement.

“After we announced that we were trying to start a union, they fired the workers at that location,” Hollis said. “Almost all those workers had signed something saying that they were pro-union, so it was pretty obvious that that was the reason for terminating all those positions.”

According to a release from Bruegger’s Workers United, the union has filed unfair labor practice charges against store management.

Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@dmreg.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Workers at Bruegger’s Bagels in Iowa picket over unionization dispute