Saving Common Ground Bakery Cafe
Saving Common Ground Bakery Cafe
The Reopening of a Coffee Shop as a Worker-Owned Co-Op
Common Ground Bakery Cafe, a warm coffee shop that serves baked goods and espresso drinks in Baltimore, MD, closed down after beginning a union drive under the banner of Common Ground Workers United. According to an article in Baltimore Magazine, confused Hampden locals gathered around the locked doors of the shop on July 2, “perplexed.” The sudden closure shocked employees; with less than a 12-hour notice via group message, they were jobless. Two months later, employees successfully organized a takeover of the cafe as a worker-owned cooperative. Here’s how they got their jobs back—and more.
According to a Liberation article, just a month after the closure of Common Ground, other nearby shops had closed when their workers were planning to strike. This partly inspired employees at Common Ground Bakery Cafe, as did the case of a unionized cafe in California called Slow Bloom. Slow Bloom, like Common Ground, had closed down but was officially revived and saved by workers.
Determined to come together and save their jobs, Common Ground employees created an Instagram account where employees posted a public statement calling out the owner of the cafe and also explained their purpose. They wanted to form a worker-owned cooperative to save not only their jobs but Common Ground, a Baltimore staple for over a quarter of a century. Soon, they were connected with the Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED), an organization dedicated to helping with cooperative development. With the help of other local cooperatives, they were able to reopen the coffee shop on September 18th of last year. The grand reopening included collaboration with local cooperatives like the Baltimore Party for Socialism and Liberation.
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