Nearly 100 workers of The Bazaar, chef José Andrés’ dream restaurant inside Waldorf Astoria Hotel in downtown D.C., are trying to form a union in the hopes of improving their wages and benefits.

A supermajority of the restaurant’s workers delivered a petition seeking voluntary recognition to management Tuesday afternoon, according to UNITE-HERE Local 25, the labor organization Bazaar employees want to join. The workers have not yet received a response, per Local 25.

“We deserve a seat at the table,” the petition reads in large red letters, with the names and photos of 96 workers printed below. “We are The Bazaar workers who prepare and serve the meals. We serve ambassadors, CEOs, and D.C.’s political elite, and we work hard to create the delicious and memorable dining experience that The Bazaar by José Andrés at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel is known for.”

José Andrés Group, which manages the restaurant, confirmed it received the request Tuesday and is reviewing it. “We are carefully reviewing the request and will respond shortly. We are committed to a workplace that reflects the values of our organization,” the company said in a statement.

Should the workers succeed in their effort, their feat would be a rare accomplishment in the restaurant world. While many hotel restaurants in the District are unionized, organized labor within the rest of the city’s food and beverage industry is low, similar to that sector nationwide.

The Bazaar food runner Daniel Rueda believes a union will improve his wages and benefits because it has done so for other workers at the Waldorf-Astoria, he tells DCist/WAMU. The hotel workers, including housekeepers and guest-room attendants, voted to unionize back in 2017, before there was a José Andrés restaurant and when the hotel was the Trump International. When the hotel in the historic Old Post Office was reborn as the Waldorf Astoria in 2022, the hotel workforce kept its unionized status, according to Local 25.

Workers at The Bazaar, which opened in February 2023, want the same protections and pay as the other Waldorf Astoria workers have, Rueda says. The food runner earns just over the city’s tipped minimum wage, $9 per hour plus tips, while barbacks of another hotel restaurant under Hilton management earns over $20 plus tips, he says. (Hilton owns the Waldorf Astoria hotel brand.)

“How could we work in the same building, and we’re not making the same money that they’re making. When we’re serving the same the same people — a lot of the same clientele goes in there. The same level of service is there,” Rueda says.

Rueda learned of other workers’ pay and benefits through a union flyer at the employee entrance and by talking to his hotel colleagues in the locker room. Hotel workers get health insurance fully paid for by their employer as well as paid time off, but Bazaar workers do not, per Rueda. He says he’d also like contract protections from management discipline.

“I’m doing the same type of work that they’re doing. Why shouldn’t I also have these benefits?” Rueda says.

Rueda likes working at The Bazaar. He described a demanding, fast-paced work environment that allows him to rub elbows with powerful people he never thought he’d be in the same room with, much less meet. As a recent graduate of American University in political science, he appreciates the challenges a job in fine dining offers.

Rueda won’t speculate on whether he thinks his employer will voluntarily recognize the union, which would prevent an election and its associated delay in contract negotiations. Three other José Andrés Group restaurants have unionized, two in Los Angeles and the now shuttered Fish by José Andrés at MGM National Harbor (however those workers dealt with the hotel, which managed it, not the restaurant group) in Prince George’s County, the union says.

It would be out of character for the humanitarian chef’s restaurant group to not support the wishes of its workers, Local 25 suggested in its press release announcing the union drive. The union noted that a majority of Bazaar employees are immigrants and that Andrés champions immigrants, including famously when he canceled plans for a previous restaurant slated for the Trump hotel over then-candidate Donald Trump’s comments about immigrants.

“The union organizing effort at the Bazaar is fundamentally an immigrants’ rights issue, and we are proud to support the workers involved. Unions like Local 25 empower immigrant workers to live in comfort and feel respected on the job, which is why we urge Bazaar management to voluntarily recognize the Bazaar workers’ union without delay,” executive director of the immigrant rights group CASA, Gustavo Torres, says in the Local 25 press release.

The hotel and restaurant is also a haven for Democrat politicos, so workers and their advocates are hoping to find a sympathetic ear with patrons. In fact, the 78th Annual Congressional Press Dinner will be held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel Wednesday night. Unite Here shared the news with Congressional staffers ahead of the event, per an email shared with DCist/WAMU. “Bazaar workers will be in front of the Congressional Dinner to welcome you to the Waldorf Astoria and ask for your support (with stickers!) as we call on José Andrés to recognize the union,” the email reads.

Recent union efforts at other local eateries have faltered, in large part due to management pushback. Union Kitchen workers voted to decertify its union and Compliments Only lead organizers quit. One of the last hotel restaurants to unionize in the region was Moon Rabbit at the Wharf, and it quickly shuttered shortly after the organizing drive went public. The Wharf hotel workers eventually won their union and Moon Rabbit reopened in downtown D.C.

Rueda hopes if The Bazaar’s workers succeed, it could encourage other restaurant workers to unionize.

“Every single worker, regardless of what occupation they’re in, deserves the right, respect, pay and dignity and protections that a union can provide,” Rueda says.

D.C. is expected to get another high-profile unionized restaurant: celebrity Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s forthcoming restaurant at the Salamander hotel in Southwest D.C. is expected to be unionized because the hotel workforce is, and the restaurant will be managed by Salamander, according to Local 25.