Local Union Chumps Protesting Milkboy in Ardmore

Since moving to the Main Line I've enjoyed scoping out the local  businesses. One of the coolest spots I've found is Milkboy Coffee in downtown Ardmore. They brew with only fair trade beans, have yummy vegan options, and call their sandwiches sammies. Nice touch. More than that they offer a cozy place for enjoying all their delectables and a venue for local music. Hubs and I found ourselves listening to some tunes there after a yummy dinner at Primavera across the street.

This winter Milkboy has been picketed almost daily by The Carpenters Union, who are protesting work being done at a new Milkboy location currently under construction at 11th and Chestnut. The two blank faced stooges refuse to conversate (Me no talka! Me want paycheck!) but are distributing materials which states their case.

According to the flier, the union is shaming the MilkBoy for using contractors that are “contributing to the destruction of area wage and benefit standards of the community by paying its employees substantially less than those rates established by members of the Metropolitan Regional Council of Carpenters.” Translation, they hired a contractor who was willing to accept less than the "union wage." This is the reason construction costs are so darn high that small businesses can't afford the expansion they want and that local economies need. This is the union wage that funds a billion dollar investment portfolio, owns a 38% stake in Philadelphia Media Holdings, (the company that owns The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com.)

Let's  be reasonable for a moment here. I don't want to dive too deeply into the union issue which runs deep and especially deep in our fair Philadelphia. Milkboy is a small local business, the owners started a recording business in 1994 and 7 years later in 2001 expanded into their current space in Ardmore. They opened as an all ages music venue and coffee shop in 2005. Owners Tommy Joyner and Jamie Lokoff are thoughtful, creative and community based entrepreneurs, the type of people that make any community better.

The union efforts to thwart Milkboys business is clearly futile, they're always packed. The food and music are fab and it seems the pro-union message couldn't resonate less with the young creative types who hang here. In my stops at Milkboy, I've chatted with Tommy and found him kind, well spoken and easy going. To my inquiry about the folks outside, he explained the situation, shared frustraions but was calm and even sympathetic to his opposors. He told me he even offered the union protestors some hot coffee on a particularly cold day to which they refused. It is winter, and they're standing outside with a sign all day. Bravo Tommy.