8817 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

I just don’t want to fall into the rut of imagining the worst case scenario.

[Matt R.]

Me neither, but am trying to be logical. We’re short staffed, so we’re closing the kitchen one day a week but keeping the cafe open, see what I’m saying?

Matt.

[Matt R.]

we have?  everyone i know seems to "live".  we don't have people dying do we?  we don't have any/many homeless workers.
 
believe it or not the industry can take care of itself just like any industry does.  no need for foreign workers.  raise prices and wages and improve working conditions where required.
https://www.ctvnews....clipId=2268899 

Can’t think of many industries that don’t recruit and hire foreign workers, from high tech, medical, retail, industrial, farming, on and on.

Matt.

[LJ]

Rumour still going around about 14 employees with covid as the reason for the shutdown.

[Mike K.]

Wouldn’t that have hit the Island Health outbreak/exposure list by now?

[Victoria Watcher]

Wouldn’t that have hit the Island Health outbreak/exposure list by now?

They might have changed the guidelines. They have only published one exposure in all of 2021:

https://www.islandhe...id-19-exposures

Outbreaks is a term only for care homes or hospitals other residential medical places.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 August 2021 - 03:17 AM.

[Mike K.]

Here is a restaurant worker who says she did not return to the job post covid (or in this vaccination period). This individual is obviously very frustrated by what she feels is an industry that took advantage of her for low pay, unstable working hours and various forms of abuse from customers.

And we especially don’t want to do that during the rising fourth wave of a pandemic. A study published earlier this year found the risk of death during the pandemic increased 40 per cent for food and agricultural workers in California.

Some of your “missing” workers are not missing. They’re dead.

Before the pandemic, many of us working-class people were hustling so hard we didn’t have time to question the way we were living, nor the way we were being treated by our employers – which is to say, in both cases, often poorly. What CERB gave us wasn’t economic stability – $2,000 a month is only $12.50 an hour – but time to think about what we wanted. Which, as it turns out, might not be to make a living for other people while we rag-and-bone our way through life.

I work as many – if not more – hours a week as I did when I worked in service. I just don’t work those hours for someone else’s benefit.

Like I said, it’s not that we don’t want to work. It’s just that we don’t want to work for you.

We want to serve ourselves.

- https://www.theglobe...ndustry-during/

[Victoria Watcher]

Here is a restaurant worker who says she did not return to the job post covid (or in this vaccination period). This individual is obviously very frustrated by what she feels is an industry that took advantage of her for low pay, unstable working hours and various forms of abuse from customers.


- https://www.theglobe...ndustry-during/

 

good for her for sure.

 

 

 

I, for one, was never on CERB. With my hours suddenly open, I was able to grow my freelance business and secure a regular income as an editor. I also enrolled in an MFA program at the University of British Columbia, because I realized I want to teach writing. In the past 18 months, I pitched, sold and wrote my first book.

 

 

 

 

 

but very very few servers have the ability to become writers.  the globe and mail also left off part of the book tittle:

 

 

Lori Fox is the author of the forthcoming book This Has Always Been A War.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's actually called:  This Has Always Been A War: The Radicalization Of A Working Class Queer

 

and yes there is currently an appetite for books about your victimization.  but that'll only get you so far in real life likely.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 August 2021 - 06:19 AM.

[Mike K.]

So there we have it. We might jump to the conclusion that COVID shut down this restaurant or that, but it might just be low staff and even a manager or two who are unavailable. Some staff work at multiple locations, too, and might choose one over another depending on the day of the week or who else they are working with.

[Sparky]

Why would that help?

Matt.

I got that wrong. I meant to say CERB.

[Victoria Watcher]

the entire problem with the globe and mail story is it ignores some of the reason she left the industry.

 

she left partially in order to write a book - a book about being mistreated in the industry.   that is very important context.  completely left out.  but i was able to research it in 30 seconds.

 

so she owes part of her current book-writing career to her mistreatment in the service industry.  imagine that.

 

more on the author:

 

https://lorifox.squarespace.com/

 

2019:

 

Hey folks, it’s summer in the Yukon, which means I’ve been busy working my side hustle as a bartender, fishing, and working on some long-term projects — I’ve even found an apartment, which means I get to have running water and, like, a bed — my bed — for the first time in several years.

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 August 2021 - 06:45 AM.

[Redd42]

I got that wrong. I meant to say CERB.

 

CERB ended last fall, almost a year ago

[Sparky]

CERB ended last fall, almost a year ago

Well that proves it then…I’m hideous.

I thought for sure that was the reason that no one is applying for a position that I have open. The only applications that I have received this weekend were from Argentina and Dubai.

[Bob Fugger]

Well that proves it then…I’m hideous.

I thought for sure that was the reason that no one is applying for a position that I have open. The only applications that I have received this weekend were from Argentina and Dubai.

I think that he's just being pedantic: it's no longer called CERB, but it's essentially CERB. Same impact.

[Sparky]

Thanks Bob. I knew something was up. I have an entry level position open with the only qualifier that the person have electrical interest.

Higher than minimum wage but no takers.

[A Girl is No one]

Can’t think of many industries that don’t recruit and hire foreign workers, from high tech, medical, retail, industrial, farming, on and on.

Matt.

Doesn’t that mean that this is at the source of the artificially low wages forcing people into working poor wages?

[Victoria Watcher]

^ economists will be split on that.

and it depends somewhat on the industry. if it is house painting or serving food at a restaurant of course foreign labour will depress wages in that local industry. but it might also might push demand for those services to elsewhere too. if it’s tech or farming that’s more nuanced again.

if my local burger is always $25 and beers $12, I might just spend an extra week each year in Mexico for $9/$4 of each.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 August 2021 - 06:03 PM.

[Matt R.]

Doesn’t that mean that this is at the source of the artificially low wages forcing people into working poor wages?

I dunno, maybe. My foreign workers make the same as anyone else.

Matt.

[A Girl is No one]

I dunno, maybe. My foreign workers make the same as anyone else.

Matt.

Exactly my point. They don’t make less but they keep the wages going up and keeping up with inflation. You would likely have to pay more if it weren’t for the possibility of hiring foreign workers…and maybe then workers in the hospitality industry might be able to make a living out of their work…(it’s a lot more complicated than this but this sure plays a part in keeping wages down …)

[Matt R.]

The worker I got this year makes more than the ones I got two years ago and the benefits are better now too. I see your point, I just don’t agree with it. I’ve advertised for staff at a higher wage and still no interest from “locals”.

Matt.