Attaboy Cocktail Bar Workers Announce Independent Union Drive in Manhattan

Zack Gelnaw-Rubin has worked behind the stick long enough to know every pressure point in the craft cocktail trade. The Attaboy bartender and his colleagues at 134 Eldridge Street went public with an independent union drive, naming their new organization Local 134, after the Lower East Side address where they mix bespoke cocktails for parties of six or fewer until 3 a.m. every night of the week.

The bargaining unit covers 18 roles, including bartenders, barbacks and support staff, structured as a fully independent, worker-led effort with no affiliation to an existing international union. The organizing statement listed wages, unpredictable scheduling, occupational safety, pay equity between front-of-house and back-of-house workers, and formal protections against sexual harassment as the campaign's core demands. Workers also named mental health support in the high-pressure cocktail environment as a priority, alongside safeguards against retaliation for speaking out.

The bar they are organizing carries considerable weight in the industry. Founded in 2013 by Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy in the former home of Milk & Honey, Attaboy seats just 28 people, posts no menu, and was named North America's best bar in 2022 by the World's 50 Best Awards. That combination of prestige, late-night hours and gratuity-dependent pay is precisely the environment where tip transparency, pooling rules and scheduling predictability are hardest to enforce without a legally binding agreement.

Ross and McIlroy had not publicly responded to the drive as of the announcement. The union did not disclose what percentage of workers had signed authorization cards. If ownership declines to voluntarily recognize Local 134, workers can petition the National Labor Relations Board for a formal election. Under the National Labor Relations Act, retaliation tied to union activity is illegal, but workers typically document every employer interaction and preserve the right to file unfair labor practice charges regardless.

The campaign arrives at a complicated moment for New York City bar organizing. Death & Co, another prominent downtown Manhattan cocktail venue with documented industry overlap with Attaboy, saw an initially promising union push collapse in early 2024. In February 2026, Achilles' Heel in Greenpoint won recognition through the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; the bar shuttered shortly after.

Both outcomes will shape how aggressively Attaboy's organizers pursue public pressure before a recognition decision is made.

For independent bar owners across the city, the calculus is direct: if a union takes hold at one of the industry's most recognized addresses, informal employment practices at comparable venues will face renewed scrutiny from workers who now have a concrete template for what collective bargaining at a small cocktail bar looks like.