The union effort at Compliments Only is over after the Dupont Circle sandwich shop’s owners refused to recognize their workers’ union and lead organizers resigned, two former employees say.

Owners Emily Cipes and Pete Sitcov avoided giving a straight answer when multiple workers requested voluntarily recognition over the summer.

Then, in August, the owners explicitly said no to voluntarily recognition, according to Critter Woodward and Zach Slavin, the former employees and lead union organizers. One of the workers shared a screenshot of an email from the owners that confirms they would not recognize a union at Compliments Only. They also said in the email that they would not retaliate against workers if they filed for a union election through the National Labor Relations Board.

Sitcov tells DCist/WAMU that they encouraged workers to file for a union election if they want to have a union representative. “We never tried to stop them for doing anything,” he says.

He declined to explain why he and Cipes declined to recognize the union, which would near-immediately jumpstart negotiations over wages and workplace practices. He says none of the union organizers work at the sandwich shop anymore, so it’s a moot point.

“It’s all over. And it’s in the past and we can leave it there,” Sitcov says. 

Workers ultimately decided against filing for an election because of how long the process would take, Woodward and Slavin explain. The election process, between the filing and vote itself, takes roughly a month. However, the process could be drawn out by several months if the employer objects to the makeup of the bargaining unit. The election outcome itself can prolong the process even more if ballots are contested. Compliments workers feared they would lose momentum and support as people left.

Compliments Only became a tense and unpleasant environment for organizers since their union effort went public in July, Woodward and Slavin separately tell DCist/WAMU. Slavin says he was effectively demoted to a non-customer facing station, though Sitcov emphasizes in a conversation with DCist/WAMU that the shop did not retaliate against any workers who were a part of the union drive.

Woodward says an Aug. 1 meeting between organizers and owners led them to put in their resignation. That the owners finally held a meeting in early August after a month of actions — which included picketing and asking customers to show their union support — gave them hope. But the owners simply wanted to address the tension, not the union, per Woodward.

“I didn’t have energy anymore. To go against someone who was willing to use everything at their disposal to oppose us,” they say.

By the fall, Woodward says four union organizers had resigned and another was fired. Sitcov says the the firing had “nothing to do with the union effort.”

“The anger and frustration has gone away, I just feel sad,” Woodward says. “They missed an opportunity to support us and I’m sad I had to leave a place that was special to me because I wasn’t respected.”

The union effort started this past spring because employees wanted to collectively raise their wages. The owners declined to meaningfully increase their wages when they individually asked, former workers told DCist/WAMU.  They sought a $21-per-hour minimum wage for all employees. They said they saw a discrepancy between the shop’s accolades and the workers’ pay.