Walkout creates chaos at St. James Smitty’s

Gordon Sharpe wanted to eat a meal at the St. James Smitty’s Wednesday, but he got a helping of bad news instead.

He saw several workers walk out of the restaurant, at 1017 St. James St.

“(The waiter) came back about 10 minutes later and stood over the table, looking a little distraught and said, ‘I’m quitting right now and so is everybody else,’” Sharpe said. “He said, ‘This is my last time serving you,’ and he was quite choked up.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said, adding that the managers scrambled to serve patrons.

Later that evening, Sheridine Tait- Reaume, 19, said in a public post online she no longer worked at the outlet, which she said was rife with problems.

General manager Ahadullah Khojazada said the workers had been locked out after he raised their complaints with the owners.

He emailed Employment Standards Manitoba about the lockout and asked that an investigation be conducted.

“Over 30 employees were impacted and forced out of the business,” Khojazada wrote in the email, obtained by the Free Press, to the government agency.

Many of the staff members held a small protest at the restaurant Thursday night. The group claims the owners have repeatedly ignored staff concerns, including allegations of mistreatment of customers.

“Why make a code of conduct if you’re not going to respect it,” staffer Tait-Reaume said at the protest.

Khojazada said he had repeatedly raised human resources-related concerns and when he was told the issues would not be dealt with, he walked off the job on Wednesday.

“I was able to do what I could do within my power,” he said of bringing the concerns forward to ownership. “But when I brought it to the superior authority, they were quiet about it.”

As employees at the non-union shop gathered outside of the restaurant and voiced their concerns, the restaurant appeared to be operating normally.

Valarie Funk, owner of the outlet, responded to the allegations in a statement.

“We are aware of concerns being raised online and in the community, and we want to be clear that we do not tolerate racism, discrimination, or harassment of any kind,” Funk wrote.

She said that in the event an employment standards complaint is investigated, “we will respond in the appropriate fashion.”

“A recent employment situation at our St. James location is being characterized in ways that do not reflect what actually happened, the statement said. “Personnel decisions at Smitty’s are never made lightly or without cause, and they are grounded in conduct and nothing else.”

Funk wouldn’t delve into specifics.

Sharpe said the departure of so many workers concerns him.

“Unless something is resolved, and these people get treated properly, we will never go there again,” he said.

morgan.modjeski@winnipegfreepress.com