Boathouse labor rally draws public officials (14 union organizers fired!)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110422/SMALLBIZ/110429942

April 22, 2011 3:46 PM

Workers claiming they were illegally fired from the Loeb Memorial Boathouse restaurant rallied Thursday; the city's Parks Department has so far stayed out of the fray.

By Benjamin J. Spencer

Workers who claim they were illegally fired from the Loeb Memorial Boathouse restaurant in Central Park publicly aired their grievances at a union rally adjacent to the restaurant on Thursday, backed up by a chorus of pro-union City Council members and union officials. So far, though, the popular concession’s landlord–the city's Department of Parks and Recreation—has stayed largely out of the fray.

The Parks Department responded Friday to repeated requests for comment with a written statement.

“The city is not party to this disagreement which is between a labor union and a restaurant operator with a concession to operate at Central Park,” read the statement. “The concessionaire has met all of his obligations to the city under the agreement.”

The rally was the latest turn of events in an intensifying dispute. The New York Hotel Trades Council is representing the group of workers, who said the concession’s operator, Dean Poll, and his managers systematically mistreated workers on the basis of race and sex, stole tips from servers, and improperly fired 14 banquet employees when they attempted to join the Local 6 union chapter in January of this year.

Yasser Nijim, one of the fired employees attending the rally on Thursday, said he worked at the Boathouse for three years, mostly full-time. He said when he and many other employees joined the Local 6 union committee in June of 2010, “management started bribing us.”

“They gave us a raise. They offered us health insurance that we couldn’t afford,” said Mr. Nijim. When he persisted in advocating for the union, he said, his hours were changed drastically. “We’d leave at three in the morning, come back at eight in the morning–that kind of thing,” he said.

Finally, in January, he was terminated along with 13 other union supporters. “It was because we supported the union,” said Mr. Nijim.

FULL story at link.