The finalization of a unionization effort among Community Food Co-op employees has been joined by another new effort for employees of the Whatcom Museum Foundation.
Updated July 31, 2025
As employees of two major Whatcom nonprofit organizations — the Community Food Co-op and Whatcom Museum Foundation — joined Teamsters Local Union 231 in recent months, the former came to an agreement on improved wages and benefits while the latter wait for resolve.
Following a February 2024 vote to join the union, 170 employees of Bellingham’s Community Food Co-op recently ratified a collective bargaining agreement.
The contract, which covers about 70% of the co-op’s 240 total employees, took effect April 20 and expires on Dec. 31, 2027. It’s among the latest developments in a series of local efforts for which employees are seeking greater workplace amid continual cost of living increases.
Coming to terms
Joe Ingebrigtson, a co-op employee involved with the negotiation process, said the decision to unionize emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The co-op like any business struggled through the corona era and didn’t really come out unscathed,” he said. “Like a lot of other places, their pay scale hadn’t really changed in over a decade so wage compression was a real problem. We were having an insanely high turnover rate. It was a lot of things all at once that caused everybody to come together and work together.”
The new co-op contract provides a structured wage scale based on job specification and classification, with a 3.5% wage increase each year, Ingebrigtson said.
The contract also provides jury duty reimbursement for the number of lost hours an employee incurs, he added in an email. There are provisions for improved holiday pay, as well as noneconomic issues like just-cause discipline, union leave and seniority, according to a union press release.
“Everybody deserves a livable wage,” Ingebrigtson said. “The unionization of the staff of the co-op allows us to create or at least influence our work environment and what we want to see in it. (The) contract also comes with a lot of guarantees and protections that we wouldn’t have otherwise. This is also a starting point for us. We are probably going to have to start renegotiating our contract in a year and a half, and we’re excited to see where this can go in the future.”
The contract finalizes a nearly two-year-long process for co-op employees. About 90% of the 170 employees voted to unionize in 2024, citing wage and scheduling issues as a key reason. The movement itself began the previous summer, when an unusually high level of employee turnover was occurring.
A united front
Co-op employees who were not part of the unionization effort include all levels of management, as well as office staff, bakery employees and CEO Lisa Sedlar, who has overseen the nonprofit entity for the past nine months.
“I think it worked out really well,” Sedlar said of the union agreement. “I’m really proud … for our organization to be affiliated with the Teamsters and to be a union house.”
Sedlar added that it is her hope that being a union-affiliated store will carry value for member and nonmember customers, encouraging patronage of what is already a very locally focused place to shop.
While the union contract will increase costs for the co-op, Sedlar noted that it will not tank the organization’s financial health. It also won’t be passed on to consumers.
“We’re not raising prices to pay for the union contract,” she said, adding that potential retail price increases are more likely to come from … the potential effect of federally enacted tariffs.” [Ed.: Edited for clarity.]
So far, the effect of tariffs has been limited, Sedlar said, and mainly resulted in some prices increases for items like coffee, chocolate and Canadian products.
Co-op management was largely understanding and supportive of the employee unionization, Sedlar added, and provides additional opportunity for shared-interest negotiating in the future.
“I feel like there isn’t a big divide between management and staff,” Sedlar said. “I feel like it’s pretty healthy and robust, in terms of our channels of communication being open and working together to ensure that people are happy here. We want our staff to stay as long as they want to stay, and great benefits and pay are a big part of that.”
Nonunion staff received a cost-of-living adjustment earlier this year, according to notes from a March board of trustees meeting, and Sedlar said the co-op has always strived to provide increases when able.
The current starting wage at both co-op locations is $19 an hour, she said, and will increase again next year.
Museum staff vote to unionize
Another union effort in its early stages involves employees of the Whatcom Museum Foundation, the nonprofit entity that operates the museum in conjunction with the City of Bellingham.
On May 1, 21 employees from the Whatcom Museum Foundation sent a letter to the museum explaining that they had also unanimously voted to unionize and join Teamsters Local 231.
The letter went on to express a hope for voluntary recognition and good faith negotiations, while also noting that employees waited to file with the National Labor Relations Board until after former executive director Patricia Leach had retired.
This was due to fear of Leach delaying her retirement or possibly abusing her position to retaliate against staff, the letter said, adding that such fears were “supported and documented.” Leach retired in March after more than 17 years as museum director.
Kara Henry, a development associate for the museum who’s part of the union effort, declined to elaborate on why Leach might have sought retaliation. But she said that the move to unionize is both a reflection of challenges WMF employees have faced and a chance to achieve greater solidarity in support of the museum’s mission, members and guests.
“Our staff is extremely talented and dedicated, and we love the work that we do,” Henry said. “We’re really determined to see the museum thrive, and I think that’s a big reason why we got unanimous support (for unionizing).”
The 21 employees represent both part- and full-time positions with a range of jobs across the museum workplace. They include front desk attendants, visitors’ services and education employees, Family Interactive Gallery workers and those fulfilling tasks across various museum departments, including photo archives, exhibitions and marketing.
In transition
While several museum workers are still city employees represented by the Guild of Pacific Northwest Employees Local 1937, the majority of museum staff is now employed by the WMF. The transition of those positions over time, Henry said, has not necessarily been for the better.
“As (jobs have) gotten moved over to foundation positions over the years, wages and benefits have both suffered,” she said. “We’re really interested in just prioritizing and making working at the museum livable and equitable, and we’d really like to see everybody get back on track with what city employees receive.”
In addition to equitable wages and benefits, WMF employees are seeking open and honest communication with museum stakeholders, including the board of trustees. They’re also hoping to have a say in the hiring process of the next executive director, Henry added. Maria J. Coltharp, the museum’s director of collections, remains acting museum director following Leach’s retirement.
Melissa Morin, communications and community relations director for Bellingham, wrote in an email that the city has contracted with an executive search firm to assist recruiting for the next museum director, and hopes to have the position filled by the end of 2025.
Under a museum staffing transition agreement between the city and Local 1937 — created in 2019 and amended in both 2023 and 2025 — four positions will remain under city employment until the current holders of those jobs leave or retire. Those positions will then transition to the auspices of the WMF. The director position will continue as a city position reporting to the mayor. [Ed.: An earlier version of this story reported the director position would be moved under WMF. That is not currently in the plan.]
Morin said the current terms are part of a multiyear negotiation between the two entities.
“The structure and funding of the museum is an ongoing conversation between the foundation and the city,” she added.
Henry said the group is currently holding meetings with their union representatives to discuss how to prioritize their contract negotiations. No negotiations have taken place so far, and Henry said there is not a solid timeline on when they hope to have their first contract sent to the museum.
Current leadership is open to the union negotiating process, she added, with hope that it will result in a positive future for both the museum and WMF employees.
“We all just really care about each other and want to be at the museum,” she said. “We’re excited to see what happens next.”
— By Matt Benoit
Also read in Salish Current:
• “Five counselors for 2,600 students in Anacortes schools,” June 24, 2025
• “Negotiations still on for three unions striking against PeaceHealth,” June 9, 2025
• “St. Joseph Medical Center employees plan strike,” May 8, 2025
• “Local unionization efforts aim to raise wages, lower burnout,” Aug. 12, 2022
• “Bellingham Herald news reporters unionize, for the cause of ‘robust local news’,” Dec. 18, 2020