Employees of a Portland Bread Behemoth’s Production Bakery Are Unionizing

Because it’s Thanksgiving week, the weekly EaterWire news roundup comes a little early this week. This week’s food news cycle was decently slow because of the holiday, but there were still some news tidbits that slid through the cracks. Let’s get into it:

SOURDOUGH SOLIDARITY — Grand Central Bakery’s Northwest Portland production bakery has decided to unionize, officially requesting a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. The union says they are fighting to address “a high rate of on-the-job injuries, egregious mishandling of sexual harassment cases, [and] chronic understaffing,” and want higher wages and benefits for employees. Owner Claire Randall challenges the union’s claims, but she is supportive of her employees’ interests in “exploring” unionization. [Willamette Week]

FRESH CATCH — Mussel-happy restaurant La Moule’s chef de cuisine, Elise Walker, will head back to the kitchen at St. Jack, where she worked years ago. In her place, Fimbul and Holdfast alum Matthew Wickstrom will head to the kitchen at the SE Clinton restaurant. [EaterWire]

WINCO OH NO — A Winco shopper has filed a lawsuit against the grocer for false advertising, alleging that the company didn’t include the Portland Clean Energy Fund surcharge in the advertised price of an item she purchased. The tax adds a 1 percent charge to the business license tax for certain large companies that do business in Portland, set aside for clean energy initiatives. [WWeek]