Detroit, Michigan - Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has once again thrown her weight behind Detroit-area baristas on strike for union recognition and a fair contract.

Tlaib joined a rally on Wednesday for striking workers at Detroit's Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company (GLCRC).

GLCRC baristas and cooks are demanding recognition with UNITE HERE Local 24 – the Detroit-area branch of a union that represents workers across the hotel, food service, and airport industries.

Workers, calling themselves Comrades in Coffee, say union membership will better help them achieve their goals of clear Covid-19 safety protocols, minimum $15-hour wages, paid time off, and anti-harassment, anti-discrimination protections.

"No worker should have to choose between affording their rent, or protecting their health. We will be on strike until we have our Union recognized and a fair contract," local barista Beck Kaster said in a press release for the strike, which launched on February 16.

One week later, workers were still on strike – and around 200 picketers hit the streets to voice their concerns.

Tlaib, who also attended their first rally, was unequivocal in her support for striking workers: "We are the richest country in the world, y'all. It shouldn't be this hard," she said. "You're working hard and you're trying to do what you're supposed to do, and it's still this difficult."

"All the workers need to know we aren't going anywhere," she continued, letting baristas and cooks know they are not alone. "It's not just UNITE HERE. All your union brothers and sisters across the state are standing with you."

She credited the GLRRC workers with "inspiring a movement across our country to be able to say, 'We need human dignity in the workplace, and that pathway is forming a union.'"

GLCRC workers say theirs is the first union recognition strike in Detroit in decades.