On Labor Day, workers at Union Loafers held a rally announcing their bid to file for unionization – just days after Alamo Drafthouse employees announced their filing. This trend among St. Louis service industry workers began with Starbucks workers who filed in 2022 and Kaldi's Coffee employees who did the same in 2025.
For Alamo Drafthouse and Union Loafers, the reasoning comes down to consistency and transparency in wages and policy. Nelle Kate McPherson, a Union Loafers union committee representative, said many of their demands pertain to compensation and benefits, including sick leave and affordable healthcare.
"[That's] not just good wages for front of house or back of house, but both," McPherson said. "And not just at Union Loafers Cafe, but also Bagel Union and the Station. We also want to have yearly reviews. That was something that was promised that we haven't been able to see."
Logan Allgood, a member of the union committee for the St. Louis franchise of Alamo Drafthouse, noted concerns about changes in policy and procedures over his years there. One is a new QR code-based ordering system requiring guests to order from their phone before and during the film.
"The QR code was introduced around March of this year," Allgood said. "We saw an immediate response to that. A lot of us work at the Alamo because we love movies and we love the environment that these theaters created. The theater was founded on a 'distraction-free movie experience,' and they have done pretty much the antithesis of that with the QR code ordering system."
McPherson and Allgood both said that the effort to unionize has seen great support from coworkers who have joined the fight. The response from leadership, however, has been quite different. McPherson said that so far it's been "pretty neutral" at Union Loafers since their announcement.
At Alamo Drafthouse it has been a different story, according to Allgood.
"We have seen a pretty robust union-busting campaign," he said. "I want to preface this by saying I know that it's our federally, legally protected right to organize, and we are confident that we are going to succeed, but that being said, [Alamo Drafthouse St. Louis] hired one of the most competitive union-busting law firms in the country. We've consistently seen some of our materials being taken down as we try to get word out. It's been very sort of restrictive to what we can do."
The end goal for both groups is to create a better working environment for themselves and their coworkers. McPherson noted that it feels like their goals are in line with promises made in the past by management.
"A lot of the things that we have been asking for are also things that we have heard them say in the past," she said. "We want to make this place better, and we want them to live up to this sort of promise of making Union Loafers an example in this city of what a restaurant can be. They really pride themselves on being someplace that's different, and we want that to be true."
They also want the businesses to thrive and feel that having a union will create the path forward they are looking for. Allgood said seeing the community rally around that has been "overwhelming."
"We hope that this union campaign is not a negative for the Alamo Drafthouse," he said. "We want to see it succeed, and we want to see it improve, and we are seeing the community rally around that."
To hear more about unionizing efforts at Union Loafers and Alamo Drafthouse St. Louis, listen to "St. Louis on the Air" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
"St. Louis on the Air" brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha, Darrious Varner and Alex Heuer. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
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