MINNEAPOLIS — When Kim's, the latest restaurant from world-renowned chef Ann Kim closed last month amid a tough time for restaurants in construction-riddled Uptown, they said in an Instagram they made the decision "due to ongoing financial losses."
But if that is true, the union representing Kim's workers say she is required to prove it to them.
"We asked for information behind that, they refused to give that to us," said Sheigh Freeberg, secretary/treasurer of Local 17.
About 60 cooks, dishwashers, servers and bartenders from Kim's voted to unionize in June, joining Unite Here Local 17. The restaurant closed about two months later. After what they say is "bad-faith" behavior from the owner and an abrupt closure, they have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
The allegations include a number of what U of M Professor William Jones calls union-busting tactics.
"At the heart of this is that, you know, the labor, the federal labor law is based upon the idea that workers should be allowed to form a union and bargain collectively without being penalized by their employers," Jones said.
Among the things the former workers want are payment for earned paid time off (PTO) and preferential consideration for jobs at Kim's other restaurants.
"That seems like a reasonable thing someone would do," Freeberg said.
Jones said the case will be closely watched.
"The really central sort of determination that the National Labor Relations Board will have to make is whether these actions are retaliatory or would they have happened anyway, would they have happened without the union drive?" Jones said.