Famed Northalsted nightclub Berlin has closed a month into a boycott called for by newly-unionized bar staff who said the club has stalled contract negotiations.

A Tuesday afternoon post on the club’s Instagram page announcing the closure did not directly reference the union campaign or boycott.

“The expenses of increased security, insurance and licensing, equipment, rent and more cannot be overestimated and we could not imagine morphing the bar into a bottle service, VIP area venue,” the post read. “So the doors are locked. The music is silenced and our dreams are now memories.”

Workers at the club, which was for nearly four decades a haven for Chicago’s alternative queer community, launched a union campaign this spring. Bar staff told the Tribune they were seeking higher wages, health care and a voice in the day-to-day running of the nightclub. The workers — including bartenders, barbacks, security staff and coat check workers — voted 16-4 to unionize with hospitality union Unite Here Local 1 in an April election held by the National Labor Relations Board.

“We love Berlin, and we want Berlin to exist for another 40 years,” bartender Jolene Saint told the Tribune this spring. “And the way that’s gonna happen is if employees are taken care of and feel like they’re not disposable.”

Berlin owners Jo Webster and Jim Schuman provided the statement posted to the club’s Instagram account through a spokesperson Tuesday but did not answer a question from the Tribune about whether the closure was related to the boycott.

Workers called for a boycott of the club beginning Oct. 25 over what they described as stalled contract negotiations. Bar staff had previously gone on strike over two nights this summer.

“Berlin’s owners do not get to hide behind the veil of historical importance and significance to not pay their workers a livable wage,” social media manager Leo Sampson said at the Oct. 25 rally. “By getting a fair contract, we are getting a better Berlin for everyone.”

Some DJs and drag performers, who are not club employees and therefore not part of its bargaining unit, pledged to cancel their shows while the boycott was on. Drag performer Irregular Girl, who hosts the club’s popular lesbian night Strapped, said at the rally the decision to cancel her shows was easy.

“I can’t in good faith invite people to my parties, I can’t bring people who are disenfranchised, who need somewhere to feel good about themselves, and know that we’re doing it at the expense of people who are just like us,” she said.

In an open letter posted to the club’s website, Berlin said the union’s economic proposals had included raises from $10 to $13 an hour before tips and included an ask for health care coverage and pensions for all staff members who worked at least one shift a week. The club said coat check employees typically make $35 an hour after tips, on average, while bartenders make around $57 an hour.

“This point alone would amount to an additional cost to Berlin of $1,600 per employee per month in the first year of the contract,” the letter read. “In total, these additional wages, health care and pension benefits would cost Berlin over half a million dollars ($500,000) in the first year of the contract alone.”

“It would be nice to pay the employees what the union wants,” the letter read. “Unfortunately, agreeing to the union’s demands will make Berlin noncompetitive, and result in a large increase of costs to our customers, causing Berlin’s patrons to go to other venues.”

The letter said Schuman had stage 4 cancer and that Webster was his primary caregiver.

In an Instagram post Tuesday, Unite Here Local 1 said the club had informed the union of its intention to close permanently effective Nov. 19.

“The workers of Berlin are heartbroken to hear of Jim and Jo’s decision to permanently and abruptly close this historic institution,” the union wrote. “This is the wrong decision.”

“We made it clear to the company that our original proposals were not final and we were negotiating in good faith to reach an agreement that was financially practical for the business,” Unite Here said. “We continue to believe that businesses that refuse to value our work above minimum wage do not belong in our community. They cannot survive because we know our worth.”

Boycotts can be a risky strategy for unions, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The tactic is hard to pull off and when they do work, boycotts run the risk of hurting the company so much they can’t function, she said.

“The company could have settled with the union and chose not to,” Bronfenbrenner said. “They went out of business rather than settle with the union.”

Union filings out of independent bars and clubs like Berlin are rare. Unions tend to target their resources toward larger groups of workers; Unite Here, for instance, represents hospitality workers at Chicago hotels and sports venues.

Berlin workers have linked their unusual union campaign to the ethos of the club, which has in recent years been named both the city’s “Best Gay Bar” and its “Best Nongay Gay Bar” by the Chicago Reader. When they launched their union campaign, staff pointed to rising anti-trans and anti-drag rhetoric in the U.S. and said they saw unionization as a way to safeguard protections for themselves.

Berlin said on Instagram Tuesday that the first ads for the club in 1983 advertised it as the “Neighborhood Bar of the Future.”

“Unfortunately, the future is now and it’s time for us to go home,” the post read.