Kolbie PetersonA majority of employees at an iconic LGBTQ+ bar in Salt Lake City announced Friday that they intend to unionize.
SunTrapp Workers United (SWU), made up of workers at The SunTrapp, at 102 S. 600 West, is calling on bar owner Mary Peterson to voluntarily recognize their union by Oct. 10, according to a news release.
Workers delivered a letter to SunTrapp management Friday that stated a majority of the staff have signed union authorization cards to be represented by Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7765, which also represents workers at the University of Utah and Utah State University, the release said.
Natalie Jankowski, a lead bartender at The SunTrapp and a member of the organizing committee, told The Salt Lake Tribune that delivering the letter to Peterson “went OK. She sat down with all of us, she heard us out.”
“We’re thinking it’s leaning towards no, but you never know,” Jankowski said.
If Peterson doesn’t recognize the SunTrapp workers’ union, Jankowski said they’d probably be headed toward the “long process” of a National Labor Relations Board election.
In a Friday text, Peterson told The Tribune, “My business is too small. The SunTrapp will not be unionizing.”
Jankowski said her understanding is that the right to unionize is not limited by the number of employees at a business.
She also said one of the main goals of the proposed union is to “protect and safeguard the community that The SunTrapp offers.”
“We want to ensure its longevity, and we want to create policies and rules and safety policies that really just secure the future of that bar,” Jankowski said, “because all of the staff loves it so much, and so do the customers.”
She said the union wants to focus on safety “as the political climate gets worse and worse,” mentioning increased immigration enforcement and the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. “Things are getting a little scary.”
Jankowski acknowledged that The SunTrapp has more security staff now than it did under its previous owner.
In June, Peterson told The Tribune that she had tightened security by implementing bag searches and the use of cameras.
Peterson told The Tribune on Friday that none of her employees have shared security concerns. Jankowski disputed that.
Jankowski also said organizers are also prioritizing better benefits, aiming to change the status quo and help improve the landscape for service workers in Utah.
“I think it’s pretty common practice here in town for owners to not offer any sort of benefits or retirement plans or 401K matching or health insurance, even if you are full time,” Jankowski said. “... And I would like to change that.”
Employees of The SunTrapp have launched a “solidarity fund” on GoFundMe that they say is meant to ensure “if anyone faces retaliation for exercising our legal right to organize, we have the resources to support them immediately.” As of Friday afternoon, the campaign had raised more than $1,400.
The formerly named Sun Trapp, once known as The Sun, is widely acknowledged as the oldest and longest running gay bar in Utah. It opened in 1973 under Joe Redburn.
The bar’s current owner reopened it as The SunTrapp in June 2024, after performing several upgrades and renovations on the 100-year-old building. In March of that year, before Peterson owned it, the bar had surrendered its liquor license after it had seemed to be on the brink of closure for two years.
In 2022, the bar also previously closed for around six weeks, because of a lawsuit between its then-owners. The closure left members of the LGBTQ community and former bar employees alike feeling like they lost a safe space.
Correction • Sept. 26, 4:25 p.m.: This story has been updated to correct that The SunTrapp is widely considered the oldest and longest running gay bar in Utah.
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