Employees quit Degrees, citing umsu
Chelse McKee, staff
Since the Canadian Auto Workers’ (CAW) strike on the University of Manitoba campus in October 2007, many employees at Degrees have said that the work environment of the campus diner has become unbearable, but the University of Manitoba Students’ Union, the owner of the restaurant, remains silent about the accusations.
Since the Manitobanwas first notified of the problem on March 4, almost all the employees interviewed have since quit, citing UMSU conduct and loyalty to kitchen manager Harold Mitchell, who resigned several weeks ago.
Drew Pelton helped design Degrees and worked as general manager since the restaurant’s opening in 2001. When Pelton was asked to speak about Degrees, he replied, “I probably shouldn’t.”
According to Fred Marks (not his real name) a former worker at Degrees, Harold Mitchell left the restaurant after contract disputes when he was tentatively hired to replace Pelton as general manager.
“He was effectively hired for it . . . but they couldn’t settle on a contract,” said Allison Jones (not her real name), another former worker at Degrees.
Mike Einarson, vice-president (internal) for UMSU, said that he could not comment on Mitchell’s reasons for leaving.
Mitchell failed to return numerous interview requests from the Manitoban.
Marks said that Mitchell and Pelton could be held under confidentiality agreements even after quitting Degrees. However, Einarson said that managers for UMSU businesses are not required to sign confidentiality agreements.
According to both Jones and Marks, the CAW strike was the turning point for Pelton.
Marks said that during the strike in October, when Degrees was one of the only functioning food service providers on campus, Pelton approached UMSU and asked what support Degrees could expect from them during the strike.
Jorge Requena, a Degrees worker, said that the response from UMSU was unfair.
“Drew asked . . . and the answer's literally ‘as little as possible.’ They were willing to do as little as possible to help us out when we were going to taking on the load of feeding the whole campus.”
Einarson confirmed that there was an increase in business for the restaurant, which he added “pretty much” makes $600,000 per year, during the time of the CAW strike but that, as the sales increased, so did the increase in costs, such as staff costs.
“Like, if you’re selling more, obviously it’s going to cost you more to produce.”
Marks continued to say that Pelton had requested the option of overtime hours for himself and his employees but that UMSU had denied the request.
Jones said that, during the CAW strike, both managers, Mitchell and Pelton, were both working 60-80 work-weeks but believed that UMSU did not pay overtime to the salaried employees.
“One thing I’ll make clear is that Degrees workers, as well as any other UMSU employee, had the choice whether or not they wanted to work during the strike,” Einarson said.
But on the issue of whether employees of Degrees were allowed to work overtime, Einarson said he was “not too sure. I don’t have the staffing information and that was up to the [general] manager.”
Another sore point for Degrees workers during the CAW strike, Marks said, was that many of them felt that UMSU was hypocritical in its support of the striking union, claiming that, while Degrees workers made around $8.50 per hour, UMSU was fighting for CAW workers to make almost $3 more per hour.
Jones also said that Sran fired Mitchell one week before his resignation took effect.
According to Jones, a witness to the event that sparked Mitchell’s dismissal, an employee was speaking to a fellow employee during working hours on the floor about the students’ union and the poor working environment of Degrees.
Marks added that at this point a female UMSU councillor with brown hair and a facial piercing approached him and said that she preferred that he not speak about such things with other employees while working.
Amanda Jonson, UMSU's vice president (external), who has brown hair and until recently had a lip peicring, denies that she was the councillor.
Afterwards, she continued to the till, where the employee followed her and said, “I don’t care,’” Jones recanted.
Marks said that the councillor went down to the UMSU office and spoke with Sran, to which he responded by phoning Mitchell in his office and telling him he was fired.
Marks said what other Degrees employees confirmed. Sran had fired the wrong person.
Even still, employees found the dismissal uncalled for compared to the offense.
“Not allowing an employee . . . to his opinion is ridiculous,” Requena said.
After the firing, Ron Davey, UMSU’s accountant, approached Sran to say that the firing constituted wrongful dismissal. Sran retracted the dismissal and Mitchell continued his last week.
Disciplinary action was never taken against the employee who made the comment.
Einarson said that, although there is a code of conduct for non-manager employees, he could not elaborate on what the points of the code are.
“It’s more up to the executive director and the restaurant manager to establish and maintain that.”
Currently, there is no executive director, as the job is still being posted after former executive director, Cathy Anstey, left in December 2007.
Marks also said that Einarson had come into the restaurant and half-jokingly said to him that “he hired him, he could fire him.”
“They said that about me?” Einarson asked. “OK, I don’t believe that that happened.”
