Second Stella’s votes ‘yes’ for union

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This article was published 20/12/2018 (2200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Workers at the Stella’s Sherbrook Street location voted in favour of joining a union on Friday — one day after a similar vote by their fellow workers at the Stella’s on Osborne Street.

“We’re glad our new members at the Sherbrook location were able to carry yesterday’s momentum forward,” said Jeff Traeger, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832, in a statement on the vote results Friday night.

“We congratulate all of the hard work and effort these members have put in over the last few weeks, and we look forward to sitting down with everyone in the new year to start the process of building a better Stella’s.”

There are 68 new members at the Stella’s Sherbrook location who are joining the union, along with 29 members at the Osborne location. UFCW Local 832 will represent all of the servers, dishwashers, cooks, hosts and baristas.

Few restaurants in Canada are unionized, and the local drives took place in lockstep with a series of disastrous revelations of #MeToo-type allegations of harassment that crippled business at the popular Winnipeg restaurant chain.

The move toward the union votes began in the wake of a social media campaign “Not My Stella’s,” which compiled grievances from current and former staff.

The Instagram account quickly filled with hundreds of postings alleging sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying and abuse of staff at all seven Stella’s restaurant locations.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca