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¡Hola!
Workers and "community members" are protesting Victor Juarez over some sort of abuse happening at his San Francisco-based "taquerias of terror." Juarez - owner of San Francisco such allegedly mouth-watering dining establishments as Azteca Taqueria, Casa Mexicana, La Fonda, La Tortilla, and Mexico Au Parc (SFist Dan will have to let us know which one is the best) - is being accused of stealing tips, denying meal and rest periods, unpaid overtime, unpaid hours of work, and verbal abuse.
One chilling case in particular is that of "Maria"'s. While employed at Azteca, she "repeatedly saw the manager, who is also the owner's brother, take cash from the tips jar." After raising a stink, she was fired. (See, things like this don't happen at Taco Bell. Something to think about.) To read the harrowing press release in its entirety, follow the jump.
Young Workers United P.O. Box 15866, San Francisco, CA 94115-5866workingyouth@hotmail.com
Media advisoryMay 5, 2008
Contacts:Dianne Enriquez : 510-xxx-xxxx
Rael Silva : 510-xxx-xxxx
Workers & Community Protest Chain of Taquerias for Labor Violations.
Thursday, July 24th from 7:30 - 8:30 PM
Casa Mexicana
3917 24th St (between Noe St & Sanchez St)Workers and community members protest Victor Juarez who owns a chain of taquerias in San Francisco that include Azteca Taqueria, Casa Mexicana 1 & 2, La Fonda, La Tortilla, and Mexico Au Parc.
Four workers have filed complaints with the Department of Labor Standards and Enforcement .The workers are Maria Medina, Patricia Yepez, Salvador Garcia, and Antonio Rosas. They accuse the owner, Victor Juarez, of labor violations that include stealing tips, denying meal and rest periods, unpaid overtime, unpaid hours of work, and verbal abuse. However, the owner refuses to negotiate and he has been delaying the process for moths.
Maria's case is an example of the injustice workers suffer at these "Taquerias of Terror." She worked at Azteca Taqueria in San Francisco for 10 years. During her time there, she repeatedly saw the manager, who is also the owner's brother, take cash from the tips jar. Shortly after she complained to the owner, she was terminated. With the help of Young Workers United, she has filed a claim against the employer for stealing tips, missed meal and rest periods, and other violations of the labor code. YWU continued to organize in Juarez's taquerias and met three other workers who testified in support of her claim.
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This smells distinctly like union shennanigans. Who puts out a press release after they get fired? I know I didn't. This fine print here is that the union is trying to organize the employees of these taquerias, and they're running a smear campaign to get it done. The untold story: if the union agrees to drop the smear campaign, the store owner won't talk to the employees about the negative aspects of unionization -- monthly dues, possible strikes, crippling effect on business -- prior to a vote.
So the union is trying to get the owner to follow the laws, and protect the rights of the employees?
I also believe the positive aspects of unionization - not having her tips stolen, being allowed to take breaks, paid sick days, and not having Maria's boss treat her in illegal ways - would drowned out any argument he could try to make about it hurting the amount of money that goes in his own pocket.
So unions can suck, of course. But if they're breaking labor laws, close their asses down.
It's annoying that the moths are slowing everything down though.
I doubt the owner is doing anything wrong -- sounds like the Unions are in the wrong. The benefit of a doubt is missplaced -- against the owner -- quite easy to do in SF, especially when immigrant labor is involved.
I remember actually seeing multiple instances of the cashier (dude they referred to as "Victor") taking money from the tip jar to give me change for my payment at Azteca. I did wonder what kind of system they had whenever he did that. I enjoyed the food there, but I'm not going any place where they treat their workers as crap.
I'm sorry to read the article writer taking a distinctly negative tone toward the workers' claims. I guess the writer makes so much $$$ that having money taken from subsistence wage workers means nothing to him, because, hey, it's just the tip jar. Do you know how you can eat a burrito and get a drink for less than $10 in SF? Because people like Maria are willing to scrape by with minimal hourly rates and anything they can get from the tip jar. I met Maria at the protest. I recognized her as one of the people at Azteca who made my burritos. She was a nice lady. I'm sorry her money from the tip jar meant nothing to you, or that they may have been abused in other ways as well. I'm not even saying that I believe 100% what the protesters claimed. But I'd not automatically be on the side of the owners, like the article writer did. If I were a small business owner, I'd do a lot more to avoid even appearances of looking like I violated labor laws. The fact the owner here did not do so does not make him look shiny clean, in my book.
I'll tell you one thing, if I had a boss like that, I'd probably kick his ass. And you would, too. Unless you're basically living on subsistence wages, then every dollar counts. For these people, leaving a taqueria job is a really big deal.