Workers at Stella's Sherbrook and Osborne street restaurants are set to vote on whether to become union members in the wake of a social media campaign against the Winnipeg chain called Not My Stella's.

Shortly after the Instagram account went up in November, dozens of current and former employees posted instances of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying and abuse from senior staff.

Now, some staff at two of the chain's seven locations have signed union membership cards, according to UFCW local 832 president Jeff Traeger, who says the workers approached the union.

"We have made an application at the Osborne and Sherbrook locations and the planning meetings are before the Manitoba Labour Board right now. Today is for Osborne, tomorrow is for Sherbrook," said Traeger.

The union says it can't talk about specifics about the drive because it is in front of the board. A planning meeting will determine the details around where and when the vote will happen. Traeger has confirmed the union is in the process of getting ready for next week's vote.

He says it made sense for Stella's employees to approach UFCW.

"The types of issues that were raised by that campaign, everything from scheduling of hours, and shifts, to tips and gratuities, these are issues we can address with a contract, with a collective agreement, with policies and a process for dealing with that. If other workers in this industry are feeling the same way or suffering the same challenges that Stellas's workers are, and then if they see we can make them a better workplace, maybe they will pick up the phone and call us as well," said Traeger.

Traeger admits unionized restaurants are not common in Winnipeg or Canada. The Velvet Glove in the Fairmont Hotel and Celebrations Dinner Theatre are two in Winnipeg, he said.

Traeger said employees at the two Stella's locations have received notices of the upcoming secret ballot vote.

Stella's has five other locations in Winnipeg. It's not known if any of them will pursue unionization.