A picket is being organized today, Friday Feb. 6, to support Venice’s Rose Cafe workers.
DETAILS FROM PROTEST ORGANIZERS:
Join Us at a Picket Outside Rose Cafe to Protest New Multi-Milionaire Owner Bill Chait’s Treatment of Longtime Employees
Will Help Collect Funds for Workers Given Only 10-day Notice of Lay-Off and Required to Reapply for Jobs After Some 30 Years of Service
We Vow to Boycott New Restaurant if Rose Cafe Workers are Not Paid Decent Severance and Guaranteed Old Jobs Back
WHEN: Noon to 2PM, Friday, February 6th
WHERE: Outside the Rose Cafe , 220 Rose Ave (@ Main St.), Venice, CA 90291
WHY: Dozens of long time employees of the Rose Cafe, some of them with 30 plus years of seniority, and three generations of their families working there, have been laid-off by new owner restaurateur Bill Chait. The workers were only given 10-day notice and told they had reapply for their jobs when the restaurant re-opens under new ownership.
BRING SIGNS AND ROSES FOR THE WORKERS: “Support Rose Cafe Workers” “Bill Chiat Unfair to Rose Workers”
The new corporate owners of Venice’s popular Rose Café, led by former restaurant chain operator Bill Chait, will close the popular restaurant on Sunday for remodeling and lay off its staff who only learned of the closing a week ago.
The “revamping” is expected to take up to five months, and longtime employees have no guarantee of returning to their jobs once the work is completed. Workers said they were pressured to sign releases and told they could only reapply for their old jobs at a meeting with the new corporate owners last Wednesday.
We regulars come for the warm and friendly service, The ambiance and food are secondary. It’s a shabby way to treat loyal employees. Some workers have been at the Rose over 30 years, and have several generations of their families working there.
Treating people poorly because they don’t fit your business plan is appalling. We understand that the neighborhood is changing. But we don’t understand why new management has to treat dedicated, loyal and friendly employees so poorly.
Thee Rose must have treated it employees right because “the same people have been doing great work on the floor and behind the counter for years.” Unless the new owners make it right for the employees, it’s hard to imagine we will ever be back.
– all comments from protest organizers.
