Union demands ‘untenable’: Stella’s

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This article was published 23/09/2020 (1457 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four days into a strike by employees at the Stella’s restaurant on Sherbrook Street, the company has issued a public statement calling attention to the union’s demands, describing them as “completely untenable.”

The key demands are wage increases for all 39 unionized employees, a restriction that no table transfers can occur from one server to another during a break, and requirements that certain employees are guaranteed at least 30 hours of work per week, and that employees don’t have to work weekends after one year of service.

“The demands above are completely untenable, especially during a pandemic, with countless restaurants struggling,” Stella’s said.

Stella’s said it was issuing the statement to clear up “some misinformation” about the labour dispute.

UFCW Local 832 President Jeff Traeger said the statement from Stella’s, issued Thursday afternoon before the two sides are set to meet for concillation on Monday, is a clear attempt at “spin.”

He said normally the union doesn’t negotiate specific terms in the media, but in response to the company’s statement, he said the union wants to see a 25-cents/hour wage increase for all employees in light of the fact minimum wage employees will receive a 25-cent/hour boost when Manitoba’s minimum wage goes up Oct. 1. Since a labour-board contract mandated paid breaks for employees starting last September, Traeger said the company has “punished” servers taking breaks by transferring their tables to another employee, leaving them shortchanged on tips. He said the company has forced employees to choose between work, school and child-care by not being flexible about weekend shifts.

“These demands are because Stella’s is using whatever they can in the collective agreement to create a toxic workplace, to show absolutely no respect and dignity to the people that work for them,” Traeger said.

In the statement, Stella’s said it offered to extend the labour-board-imposed contract for another year. Traeger said that would allow the employer to maintain the status quo. He said after seeing Stella’s statement he doesn’t have faith that anything meaningful will be accomplished at Monday’s concillation meeting, and expects the strike to continue Tuesday.