#CORE YOGA DC FULL#

If successful, a teachers’ union would bargain for a number of workers’ rights similar to those bargained for by the YogaWorks teachers that had mobilized in the state of New York. See also The Future of Yoga: The Change We Need The CPY teachers’ reform platform aims to address the company’s reputation for its alleged discriminatory practices, as well as address a restructuring of the pay system to include a fair minimum wage, a growth bonus that increases periodically, instructor raises, an anniversary raise for managers, and secure benefits for staff members like health insurance, accrued paid time off, and maternity/paternity leave for all instructors regardless of hours worked. The petition, which is directed to CorePower Yoga CEO Niki Leondakis and to TSG Consumer Group CEO Chuck Esserman (TSG is the private equity firm that backs CorePower), would foster a more equitable workplace by including better representation of racial diversity on staff, a reform of employee pay structure, the “decolonizing” of CPYS’s teacher training program, and more. Across the country, 600 of the company’s 2,500–3,000 instructors have been rehired, says Atlanta-based Samantha Winkelmann, who’s been with CorePower for five years. (CorePower could not be reached to confirm this.) “The revitalized unionization movement includes a bold move to form a nationwide teachers’ union and a petition to the company demanding that certain changes to long standing practices be made before teachers can feel safe to return to work, of which nearly 2,000 people (CPY employees and the public) have signed on. In Atlanta, only 35 instructors of 90 have since been hired back, Marshall says. But as some studios in select states began to reopen, instructors were asked to reapply to their jobs and audition again. Like Marshall, all CPY instructors and staff were laid off as studios across the country closed in recent months. See also One Atlanta-Based Yoga Teacher Shares Her Vision for What a Post-Coronavirus World Could Look Like “I was always labeled as the angry Black woman because I was trying to stand up for things that were right,” Marshall says, adding that despite Atlanta’s cultural diversity, there were few members on staff at the Atlanta location who looked like her. Marshall, who has taught at CorePower locations in Hawaii, Atlanta, and most recently DC, says she now feels she can speak freely without being “blacklisted by the company,” as she’s since been laid off due to the pandemic.

This incident of systemic racism was not an isolated one within the company, according to former CorePower Yoga instructor and studio manager Leana Marshall, and it was exactly the catalyst a growing coalition of dissatisfied CPY instructors needed to attempt to unionize again-this time, nationwide.

The unionization movement saw a recent resurgence following the murder of George Floyd, when CorePower Master Trainer Joel Klausler posted a photo of a flower with the caption “I can breathe” on Instagram, which was met with outrage and was quickly removed. See also Does CorePower Yoga Have a Corporate Problem? A group of 2,180 CPY instructors had claimed they were not fairly compensated for all hours worked-a violation of Illinois state and federal law, of which a $1,492,500 settlement was paid by the company. The first unionization effort dates back to 2019, when CorePower Yoga instructor Effie Morgenstern attempted to start a CorePower teachers’ union in Illinois, an initial effort that saw little traction and resulted in a labor lawsuit instead. There is discord among CorePower teachers throughout the country as they mobilize around shared grievances.

with more than 200 studio locations, faces a familiar challenge as a nationwide coalition of the company’s yoga instructors attempt to unionize for a second time.

#CORE YOGA DC FULL#

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