Workers at Cocktail Bar Attaboy Are Unionizing
Staff at famed New York cocktail bar Attaboy are forming an independent union in a notoriously hard-to-organize industry.
In Lower Manhattan, bartenders and other staff at New York City’s cocktail bar Attaboy gathered to announce that they are forming a union. (Courtesy of Alex N. Press)
In Seward Park in Lower Manhattan on April 4, workers from renowned cocktail bar Attaboy gathered, drifting into a loose semicircle as an ice cream truck jingle played in the background and families enjoying the sunny afternoon looked on. The bartenders and their supporters — many of them service workers at nearby establishments — greeted each other, hugged, and high-fived.
They were there to announce that they are forming a union — Attaboy Local 134, a reference to the bar’s Eldridge Street address — and seeking voluntary recognition from management. If successful, the effort would make Attaboy the first independently owned cocktail bar in New York City to unionize.
“This is fucking terrifying,” Attaboy bartender Samaiyah Patrick told the crowd. “It’s really difficult, but this is work that needs to be done.”
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