Jim Schuman and Jo Webster took over Berlin three decades ago after our dear friend Tim Sullivan passed from AIDS in the summer of 1994. Since our friends Tim and Shirley opened Berlin in 1983, we have been proud to curate Chicago’s most diverse and inclusive nightclub and community. Our iconic venue has always sought to be a place where people of all races, gender identifications, and economic statuses feel welcome in a space celebrating life through music, dance, and a variety of creative arts. For Jim and Jo, Berlin has been at the center of our relationship and marriage since we met in 1984.
Jim has stage 4 cancer and Jo is his primary caretaker. We took refuge throughout COVID during the 18-month enforced closure of our club and continue to limit Jim’s potential exposure. Nevertheless, we both worked tirelessly to support our and other venues nationwide during the dire economic times small venues faced.
Berlin’s employees elected to have union representation this past April after our re-opening following COVID. The union’s first contract proposals were presented to Berlin in May and focused primarily on recognition of the union as the bargaining representative, as well as additional training, uniforms and security equipment, much of which we have provided.
While supporting Jim during his cancer treatments, we have entrusted Berlin’s management personnel and legal counsel to lead discussions with the union on our behalf, though we both continue to work long hours behind-the-scenes throughout each and every negotiation session. Throughout the negotiations, the Berlin team and the union team have had numerous frank and, at times, difficult discussions. Nevertheless, we continue to negotiate in good faith with the union. We always want to respect and support our employees and have already provided much of the supplemental resources requested by our staff. We are both committed to negotiating in good faith in an attempt to achieve a reasonable contract that all parties can live with.
We are proud of our employees, some of whom have loyally worked with us literally for decades. Berlin is not, and for forty years has never been, a true full-time employer. None of Berlin’s union employees work more than 27 hours per week; Berlin is only open 25 hours per week. More than half of our employees only work 14 hours per week. Berlin’s part-time employees earn a combination of a base hourly wage plus tips. Our coat check employees, post-pandemic, typically earn an average of $35/hr. Our barback employees typically earn $47/hr, while our bartenders typically earn $57/hr. Our most recently hired security employees earn an average of $22.50/hr, which is above the Chicago average. We always want our employees to be paid well. Our employees work hard and deserve to be paid fairly and competitively. And we believe they are, especially when compared to typical Chicago bars and nightclubs.
In June, the union presented its economic proposals. These proposals included raises ranging from an additional $10/hour to $13/hour, before tips, equating to an overall 58% to 132% increase in wage expenses. The union has also demanded that every Berlin employee represented by the union who works a minimum of one 7-hour shift per week, be considered full-time and thus receive free healthcare coverage and pensions to be paid in full by Berlin. This point alone would amount to an additional cost to Berlin of $1,600 per employee per month in the first year of the contract. In total, these additional wages, healthcare, and pension benefits would cost Berlin over half a million dollars ($500,000) in the first year of the contract alone. It would be nice to pay the employees what the union wants. Unfortunately, agreeing to the union's demands will make Berlin non-competitive, and result in a large increase of costs to our customers, causing Berlin’s patrons to go to other venues.
When some of Berlin’s unionized workers went on strike and picketed on August 4th and 5th, we were shocked. Our entertainers and many of our staff were asked not to perform. As we rent our space, Berlin has high fixed costs and we can ill afford to lose a sold-out weekend in the summer or continue to operate with such uncertainty.
We have offered to share our private corporate financials with the Union, provided they sign a legally binding Non-Disclosure Agreement. For a small, non-publicly-traded, family business which is currently on the market, this is an entirely appropriate precaution. Instead, the Union, without notification to us, has decided to lay waste to Halloween week and and leave us to find out about their plans at this last minute from other people with whom the Union shared this information before our meeting last week.
Being private people, we have tried to avoid comment, but we feel it necessary to explain to our beloved customers and employees what Berlin and we are facing. We hope this transparency has helped you better understand the status of our union contract negotiations. Ever since we took over Berlin from our friends in the 1990s, it has always been a labor of love, not an endeavor that would ever make us rich. We are very proud of keeping this diverse, celebrated nightclub open. We hope it can remain so for future generations.
Thank you for your understanding.
- All workers that work one day a week (<7.5hrs) to be considered full-time
- All workers that work one day a week to get full benefits (healthcare, pension, vacation pay, sick pay)
- All workers that work one day a week to get fully paid healthcare of $969mthly
- All workers that work one day a week to get pension contributions of $635mthly
- A $13hr raise for Bartenders that currently make an average of $57hr
- A $13hr raise for Barbacks that currently make an average of $47hr
- A $13hr raise for Coat Check workers that currently make an average of $35hr
- A $10hr raise for Security workers that currently make an average of $22.50hr