Stephen Starr’s D.C. restaurant workers bring their pro-union protest to Philly
After staging a high-profile boycott in D.C., the would-be unionized employees of Philly's most famous restaurateur have taken their campaign for recognition on the road.
In blazing heat midday Monday, a modest crowd of labor-rights advocates and restaurant workers — including at least six D.C.-area Starr Restaurants employees — chanted in English and Spanish: “When workers’ rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”
As attendees fanned themselves and clustered under the shade of umbrellas on the 100 block of Market Street, Greg Varney, a worker at Stephen Starr-owned D.C. steakhouse St. Anselm, took the microphone and shouted over the sound of nearby construction. “In January, a supermajority of us demanded voluntary recognition,” Varney told the group, which was bolstered by local representatives from Philly’s Unite Here branch, the AFL-CIO, and local hospitality workers’ nonprofit El Comite Philly.
“Since then, [Starr Restaurants] has hired anti-union persuaders to campaign against the union, fired union supporters, reduced the hours of union supporters, and continued to employ a supervising chef at Pastis who two union leaders reported to HR for [allegations of] sexual harassment,” Varney said.
The group crossed Market Street and circled up in front of Starr Restaurants headquarters, located next to the long-shuttered Old City location of the Continental, which launched the career of Philadelphia’s most famous restaurateur. They slipped an envelope labeled “Starr” in the mailbox, then posted the letter on the doors of the discreetly marked building. The two-page note included photos of Starr’s would-be union employees, as well as a plea to give the workers “a seat at the table.”
Asked for comment on the rally, a spokesperson for Starr Restaurants said in a statement: “What is unfolding today is an unfortunate part of a broader campaign led by a Washington, D.C.-based hotel union. Despite employing highly aggressive tactics, the union has not succeeded in persuading our employees to join,” it read. “In fact, the majority of our D.C. team has expressed a clear preference not to unionize, with many actively opposed.” (The results of two union elections — one went in favor of unionization, the other against — at Starr restaurants in D.C. are being contested, while a third has been indefinitely postponed.)
The statement asserted that the majority of Monday’s protesters were “paid demonstrators.”
The rally marked the second time that representatives from Starr’s D.C. restaurants have demonstrated in Philly, the restaurateur’s home base. The first took place in June, shortly after Unite Here — which represents the would-be Starr unions — called for lawmakers to boycott the restaurateur’s highest-profile establishments in the nation’s capital. Philly-area Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle, Dwight Evans, and Mary Gay Scanlon, signed on to the boycott, as did high-profile politicians such as Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. (Stephen Starr is a longtime donor to the Democratic Party and its candidates, according to OpenSecrets.org.)
Employees at three of Starr’s D.C. restaurants — Pastis, St. Anselm, and Le Diplomate — filed notice of their intent to unionize in January. Tensions between management and pro-union workers have been high ever since. St. Anselm workers voted in favor of unionizing, 51-42, while Pastis workers voted against, 36-56. The outcomes of both elections have been disputed by representatives of Starr Restaurants and Unite Here, respectively. A scheduled vote at Le Diplomate was withdrawn.
Part-time support staffer Ellery Grimm was one of at least four St. Anselm employees who made the bus trip from D.C. to Philadelphia on Monday. Like other workers who spoke at the event Monday, she said her wages don’t adequately cover the cost of living in D.C. Increased wages are one goal of the union campaign, but Grimm also cited her desire to have more standing in the workplace. “For me, personally, I think in the front of house, there was just a complete lack of respect from management,” she said.
After Monday‘s event, the D.C. group planned a visit to the Liberty Bell, followed by evening trips to various local Starr establishments, where they planned to distribute fliers to patrons to raise the visibility of their campaign.
“They haven’t listened to us in D.C., so we thought ‘Maybe, they’ll listen to us here,’” Grimm said.