Restaurants on the boycott list included Modena on H Street, Osteria Mozza in Georgetown and the Bombay Club on Connecticut Avenue.
WASHINGTON — Accusing six D.C. restaurants of not allowing workers to unionize, more than 50 Democratic members of Congress said they would participate in a union boycott.
The statement shared with WUSA9 by organizers at Unite Here Local 25, a hospitality workers union that represents 7,000 in the DMV, included anonymous accounts of alleged anti-union actions that inspired the boycott.
The restaurants included in the boycott are:
- Le Diplomate
- Occidental
- Rasika (both locations)
- Modena
- Osteria Mozza
- The Bombay Club
“When a supermajority of us told management we want to unionize, they refused to listen, and instead began an anti-union campaign,” an anonymous worker at Le Diplomate, a French fine dining restaurant on 14th Street, reportedly told the union. “Months later, and they still are not respecting our call for a fair process to unionize.”
Similar statements were posted to Unite Here’s website from other establishments on the boycott list, like Occidental and Rasika.
D.C.-area representatives who said they would not cross the picket line included Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Don Beyer of Virginia, Eugene Vindman of Virginia, and Kwame Mfume of Maryland.
Among the Democrats signing the boycott pledge were 17 senators, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent who caucuses with the Democratic Party, also pledged his support to Unite Here’s campaign.
National names signing onto the pledge included Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California, Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Rep. Jared Golden of Maine.
“Strong unions build a strong middle class,” Maine’s Golden said on Thursday. “… Solidarity means supporting workers as they organize for fair wages and working conditions. I’m glad to support this boycott.”
“Don’t mess with workers,” Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio said plainly on Thursday.
STARR Restaurants and Knightsbridge Restaurant Group each own three of the establishments on the boycott list.
A Democratic donor, Stephen Starr’s company, STARR Restaurants, owns three of the establishments on the boycott list. The other three are owned by Knightsbridge Restaurant Group and founder Ashok Bajaj.
Some of the spots on the list have become well-known for entertaining prominent political figures. Former President Joe Biden reportedly dined at Starr’s Osteria Mozza in March, before the boycott launch.
WUSA9 has reached out to communications teams for both STARR and Knightsbridge on Friday and have not received a response.