Alex SpearFollowing the closure of Brunswick cafe Little Dog in June on account of a two-week worker strike, the store’s former area at 87 Maine Street stays empty as a union of former workers seeks retribution by means of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
According to Jessica Czarnecki, a lead organizer for the Little Dog employees’ union, the union has opened a number of complaints with the NLRB wherein it accuses former Little Dog proprietor Larry Flaherty of coercion and dangerous religion bargaining, amongst different allegations.
The union claims that Flaherty started making an attempt to promote the business inside weeks of its finalized vote to unionize, suggesting that he by no means supposed to faithfully cut price with workers. Flaherty didn’t return the Orient’s requests for remark.
“[Flaherty was] never bargaining in good faith with us if [he] put Little Dog up for sale the same month that we were federally recognized as a legal union,” Czarnecki stated.
According to NLRB lawyer Rachel Sandalow-Ash, an NLRB regional director discovered cause to imagine that two Little Dog workers had been unlawfully fired for partaking in union exercise. Flaherty allegedly fired the people shortly after being notified of his workers’ intent to unionize.
Czarnecki stated that union members alleging they had been unlawfully terminated by Flaherty are searching for again pay.
“I have to hope that there will be justice in some form that we will all be very happy about,” Czarnecki stated.
The pending complaints come within the wake of a employees walkout on June 10 on account of claims of unsafe working circumstances that led to a two-week-long strike.
Czarnecki claims the walkout resulted from a bank card reader malfunction that they attribute to Flaherty’s neglect of an excellent web invoice. They additionally declare that Flaherty refused to repair a damaged dish sanitizing machine and requested workers to function the store with no supply of sizzling water. Flaherty has denied many of those claims, in response to the Times Record.
“He was fully aware that things were damaged and needed to get fixed, and he was refusing to,” Czarnecki stated. “That’s not okay.”
As the union’s authorized battle with Flaherty unfolds, the way forward for 87 Maine Street—which has sat vacant since June—stays unclear.
Property information obtained from the Town of Brunswick Assessing Office point out that the area is owned by Tondreau LLC and has been since previous to the union’s formation. A consultant from the company couldn’t be reached for remark.
According to Brunswick Economic Development Coordinator Sally Costello, Flaherty’s lease on the area has not but expired, so the subsequent tenant can be subleasing the area from Flaherty. She stated the area is being eyed by a developer hoping to open a boutique espresso store.
“I think it will add a piece to downtown Brunswick that has been missing,” Costello stated.
In July, Californian espresso store entrepreneur Raffi Sulahian tried to crowdfund an “eco-conscious” cafe to be operated out of the Little Dog area. He claims to now have no real interest in the area, due partly to the unionization effort that he openly criticized in a Portland Press Herald letter to the editor.
“Between the union effort that the employees had started against the last owner that locals took sides on and my attempts to crowdfund the project, it just created too much confusion,” Sulahian wrote to the Orient.
Sulahian denies having ever bought or considering buying the Little Dog business itself. According to the Times Record, Flaherty disputes this declare.
Though a brand new enterprise is more likely to substitute Little Dog quickly, union members really feel the store’s closure has left a gap unimaginable to fill. Czarnecki remains to be shut with lots of their former coworkers—lots of whom miss the area and hope to sometime return.
“I do not pass by Little Dog without being like, ‘That is Little Dog. That is where I am meant to work,’” Czarnecki stated. “I don’t know, I think everyone feels that way…. That’s why we cared. That’s why we did so much.”
