Gami Ray, a former worker at the Heine Bros. location in the Douglass Loop, spoke during a rally Friday, July 1, 2022, in which workers who want to form a union decried the sudden closure of the store June 30.
Chris Otts
Digital Reporter
As featured on
A group of Heine Bros. workers seeking to unionize said they were “blindsided” by the abrupt closure of the 21-year-old Douglass Loop coffee shop on Thursday, but the local chain said it was long planned.
Baristas at Heine Brothers Coffee’s 17 stores are the biggest group to vote on unionizing in the Louisville area in almost a decade, marking what labor leaders hope is a resurgence in the movement thanks to fresh interest from coffee makers, book sellers and other service-sector workers.
It marks the first increase in the state’s share of union workers in six years following a wave of organizing at coffee shops and other service-sector employers.
