The Tartan

By Hailey Cohen

On Jan. 11, Adda Coffee & Tea House owner Sukanta Nag announced that all four Adda locations were closing immediately. This announcement came just over 24 hours after Adda employees announced plans to unionize, sparking backlash that Adda was closing to avoid a workers’ union.

Adda had operated four locations in Pittsburgh, with stores in Garfield, Shadyside, the Northside, and the Cultural District. Adda first opened its Shadyside location in 2016 and expanded from there. In the announcement of the closures, Adda stated “we have been operating at a loss since the beginning, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic.” According to Sierra Young, the former lead barista at the Garfield location, Adda announced its closure to the public and to employees at the same time, in an Instagram post.

Adda’s website explains that the word “adda” means “bringing people together to engage in the fine art of conversation” in Bengali. In addition to selling beverages, the coffee shops hosted community events and live music nights.

The sudden closure made some suspicious of union busting, and after the stores closed former workers protested. Young told The Tartan, “We became really close rallying together, it was honestly a really nice few weeks just because we were able to hang out pretty much every night and were doing press stuff all together.” She explained that their success in organizing protests came in part from social media and previous community activism connections. “When it was clear we were wronged, it didn’t take long for Pittsburgh to rally behind us,” Young said.

But Adda’s mismanagement did not begin with the abrupt closures. Young explained that at Adda, “the employees had many good ideas to improve things, but ultimately [owner Sukanta Nag] had the sole vote in all decisions. Spending was frivolous, and it was clear that someone who knows about coffee and day to day operations was not the one behind the expenses.” This could be the reason why Adda was forced to close, though some questioned why Adda closed so abruptly after the union announcement if they had been losing money for some time.

Adda management did not respond to requests for comment.

Closing a business due to the workers’ desire to form a union is illegal according to the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The law protects “the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection.” While the initial desire of Adda employees was to form a union, after their unexpected termination from their jobs, the focus turned to compensation for the abrupt severance.

On Feb. 12, former Adda employees reached an agreement with owner Nag for severance pay in exchange for dropping the union request. This effectively ended the workers’ fight for a union and stopped the pushback on the closure of Adda stores. Young explained that the agreement includes “a humble severance pay based on our hours worked in the past. It’s better than nothing, and honestly, it’s hard to continue fighting when we have to find new jobs and we aren’t in the same room every day anymore.” Adda shops are expected to stay closed indefinitely.

Movements to organize labor at coffee shops in Pittsburgh have been seen in many instances over the past few years. In 2019, the coffee shop Tazza D’Oro fired four employees and subsequently closed after a public movement started to correct unfair labor practices in the company. Tazza D’Oro had two locations on Carnegie Mellon’s campus. In 2022, management at local cafes La Prima and Coffee Tree Roasters signed union contracts.

Despite the difficult position that Adda employees were forced into when they lost their jobs with no notice, Young said that the blockage of their attempt to unionize had benefits. “We see this as setting a huge precedent for employers in Pittsburgh and otherwise,” said Young. “Baristas are one of the more overlooked jobs, but it is a career. It’s extremely nuanced, both mentally and physically demanding, and provides a huge service to people daily.”