Employees at the Ann Arbor location of Moka & Co made progress regarding the distribution of lost tips and future pay transparency in a bargaining meeting with management Saturday.
Moka & Co is a Yemeni coffee chain with locations across Michigan. Workers at the shop went on strike last Tuesday, claiming that managing partner Ahmed Alrayashi failed to distribute $1,638.86 in tips between November 2025 and February 2026. Employees also took issue with payments they said often came late and were delivered through informal methods such as Zelle and physical checks. Employees returned to work the next day after the strike because management agreed to meet and address their concerns.
While Alrayashi initially claimed in a statement to The Michigan Daily that all tips between November and February were properly distributed to employees, the workers say Alrayashi has partially distributed the missing tips since the strike. When Moka & Co employees attempted to view the store’s register to fact-check Alrayashi’s claims after the strike, they were told they could not go into the back of the store after work hours.
In an interview with The Daily, LSA junior Emma Sital, a Moka & Co worker and strike organizer, said she found herself locked out of the system when she was finally able to access the register.
“I went to go look at the register, and the manager’s code was changed on us immediately,” Sital said. “Whether it’s retaliation or not from management or corporate’s part, I can’t answer too confidently, but we can’t access the numbers ourselves.”
Alrayashi did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment regarding the incident or any other aspect of the sit-in and negotiations.
On Saturday, workers met with management for a bargaining session in the back of the store to address employees’ concerns. About 30 community members showed up for a “sip-in” to support the workers, sitting at tables in the cafe with signs bearing slogans such as “Moka & Co, give us what you owe” and “solidarity with workers.”
Organizers walked to tables occupied by unaffiliated Moka & Co patrons to explain the sip-in and why it was happening. Some customers joined in, taking signs to display on their own tables. Others displayed little interest in the event and continued to drink, study, and converse among themselves.
As negotiations began, one manager, who did not provide his name, told sip-in attendees to vacate the premises of the business, threatening to call the police if they did not comply. The manager told The Daily this was the only way to get the sip-in attendees to take down their signs and leave the store.
In response, the sip-in attendees left the store and formed a picket line outside, marching in front of the store with signs and banners while chanting pro-worker slogans. LSA senior Alex Sepulveda, a sip-in attendee who led chants during the picket, told The Daily he hoped management would consider the wishes of the community and pay Moka & Co workers fairly.
“It’s a very popular coffee shop here, and there’s a large community of people in Ann Arbor that will support workers,” Sepulveda said. “It would be in the best interest of Moka & Co management to meet all of the workers’ demands immediately.”
After about 10 minutes, protesters were invited back into the shop to resume the sip-in with approval from Alrayashi. Sital later told The Daily Alrayashi did not intend to bar the sip-in attendees from the premises, and that both parties were surprised to hear sounds of chanting start while they met in the back of the store.
“All of us workers turned to each other and were like, ‘What is going on?’” Sital said. “That is when we learned that they were being kicked out of the store. The owner did not agree to that and he wanted them to be invited back in immediately, so he invited all of us to walk out to invite everybody back in. It seemed like a miscommunication between management.”
Community members brought their signs back inside and stayed at Moka & Co for more than an hour while negotiations continued in the back of the shop, with workers coming to the front once to caucus and discuss their bargaining strategy away from management.
After negotiations ended, Sital announced to attendees that management had agreed to distribute the remaining unpaid tips from November to February, which, after recent payments, workers estimate to be about $400. Management also agreed to a biweekly pooled tipping system and greater pay transparency through regularized paystubs and spreadsheets to track payments.
In the bargaining session, workers also demanded that each employee receive $200 in damages per month of undistributed tips. Management did not agree to this demand on the grounds that it would require the approval of the Moka & Co corporate, but agreed to promptly elevate their concerns to higher-ups.
Sital thanked the sip-in’s attendees, saying while the effort wasn’t over, public pressure was a major factor behind management’s concessions.
“From the bottom of our hearts, we couldn’t do this without you guys,” Sital said. “We’ve been shouting at a void for months. We submitted a letter to seemingly a void, and you guys and your support here made it so that they are willing to meet us at the table. They are willing to negotiate with us. They are willing to expedite this process — what they said corporate will be doing — because eyes are on this as we speak.”
Daily News Editor Glenn Hedin can be reached at heglenn@umich.edu.
