Baby's On Fire Cafe closing draws scrutiny after union push
Baby’s On Fire Cafe will shut its Mount Vernon doors on July 19, just after workers filed to unionize with UFCW Local 27. Employees say the timing followed a June 22 recognition request.
Baby’s On Fire Cafe will shut its Mount Vernon doors on July 19, just after workers filed to unionize with UFCW Local 27. Owners Shirlé Hale-Koslowski and David Koslowski announced the closure on Instagram, saying the cafe and record store had suffered significant revenue losses.
The decision hits a business that has been part of the neighborhood since June 2016, when Baby’s On Fire opened in Mount Vernon as both a cafe and a record store. Its loss will be felt along a corridor where the shop served not only as a retail stop but also as a social space for regulars, staff and nearby residents.
Workers say the closure followed a push to organize. Employees filed paperwork to unionize with UFCW Local 27 and sent the owners a formal request for voluntary recognition on June 22. When they did not get a response, they filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on July 2 under Haus of K LLC d/b/a Baby’s on Fire.
The NLRB case, 05-RC-389902, lists an eight-person bargaining unit covering full-time and regular part-time baristas, bakers, front-of-house managers and back-of-house managers. The federal agency says private-sector employees have the right to join together to improve wages and working conditions, and employers may not interfere with those rights.
Workers who spoke with WMAR said they believe the closure is tied to the organizing effort, and they described the announcement as alarming for employees who live paycheck to paycheck and depend on steady hours and pay. Jason Chorpenning, president of UFCW Local 27, said the timing makes it look like the owners would rather shut the business than recognize the union.
The dispute lands in a Baltimore service sector already watching how owners respond when organizing reaches small businesses. Baby’s On Fire has long been one of Mount Vernon’s more recognizable neighborhood fixtures, and if the closure proceeds as planned, the block loses a longtime gathering place even as the labor case continues through the NLRB process.
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