Workers at José Andrés’ latest D.C. restaurant, The Bazaar, won union recognition Friday from the chef’s restaurant group. Their win represents a rare feat for workers of the food and beverage industry, which has low union membership.

The Bazaar workers — which include hosts, food runners, cooks, waiters, and bartenders — went public with their organizing efforts just a few days ago. On Tuesday, they delivered a petition requesting voluntary recognition that was signed by a supermajority of the restaurant’s roughly 140 employees. The workers received a lot of public support, including from numerous members of Congress.

Thank you for your solidarity, @RepStenyHoyer! pic.twitter.com/vlF33ePbLo

— UNITE HERE Local 25 (@UHLocal25) February 1, 2024

On Friday, the José Andrés Group agreed to voluntarily recognize a bargaining unit to represent its employees, the group said in a statement to DCist/WAMU.

“As an independent restaurant group based in Washington for over three decades amidst the most challenging of times, we are proud to have created places to work that are safe and equitable, with dignity for all,” the company said. “We hope in coming to the table together we can work cooperatively to preserve good jobs that will employ workers for years to come.”

Bazaar workers are celebrating their employer’s decision. They hope a union enables higher wages and improved benefits.

“I am thrilled that management recognized our union and so excited about what’s to come,” Bazaar busser Evelyn Perez said in a statement. “This sends a message not just to my co-workers, but restaurant workers across the D.C. area that we all deserve the dignity, respect, and stable careers that come with a union.”

The workers will join UNITE HERE Local 25, a union known for representing local hotel workers. The Bazaar is located inside the Waldorf Astoria hotel (the former Trump hotel) on Pennsylvania Avenue, where Local 25 already represents the other workers of the hotel.

Local 25 appreciates the chef’s restaurant group for quickly recognizing their workers’ union, said executive-secretary treasurer Paul Schwalb. The union sees the move as aligning with the chef’s professed values. The Bazaar organizers are mostly immigrants and Andrés champions immigrants, including famously when he canceled plans to open a restaurant slated for the Trump hotel due to then-candidate Donald Trump’s malicious comments about immigrants.

“We anticipate productive conversations at the bargaining table as we work together to make sure the jobs at the Bazaar reflect its overall commitment to excellence,” said Schwalb in a statement.

The next step is for the workers and the José Andrés Group to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement. Bazaar employees hope for wages and benefits comparable to that of the other Waldorf Astoria hotel workers, like health insurance fully funded by the employer.

That the José Andrés Group did not resist their workers’ union and voluntarily recognized it instead is uncommon. While voluntary union recognition has increased over the last few years, many D.C. area employers still decline that option and force their employees to engage in a union election campaign. Elections can be intense, and some local organizing efforts have crumbled amid management pushback.

Pro-labor groups are already pointing to Andrés as an example of leadership in the industry. But not everyone is celebrating the news: former executive director of the D.C. Nightlife Hospitality Association Mark Lee said on X (formerly Twitter) that operating a restaurant within a hotel is burdensome due to the industry’s unionization rates.

The humanitarian chef dominated the news this week. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats nominated Andrés for a Nobel Peace Prize earlier this week for his World Central Kitchen outreach in the wake of disasters.