CERB blamed for refusal of grunt work
Listen to the whiny editorial tone Brendan Kelly takes telling how restaurants can’t find enough workers. Kelly isn’t even quoting anyone else when he writes “You could sweat it out for eight hours in a hot kitchen or you could make the same amount of money sitting at home watching Netflix. So it’s not surprising that employers were having trouble finding staff.”
Yes, Brendan. You could expose yourself to COVID in a hot kitchen or you could take the government’s dime – into which you had been paying taxes – to lock down, keep yourself healthy and withdraw from nonessential work so that contagion could be reduced. How about seeing it that way?
A journalist should not be so swayed by the views of the people he has just interviewed.
The Journal has an altogether more down-to-earth restaurant piece Saturday on widespread hikes in the cost of food, and the consequences to restaurants of passing these price hikes on to their clients.
Afterthought: Are we already forgetting that an entire year elapsed between the beginning of Covid and the availability of vaccines? That between March 2020 and March 2021, the only way to avoid getting sick was to stay away from other people, especially in cramped conditions indoors?
su 10:55 on 2021-11-06 Permalink
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, the restaurants I worked at were benefiting from working class refugee and immigrant workers. In the summer university students were available in large numbers.
I wonder how Covid effects and immigration economic- demographic priorities have affected the availability of particularly kitchen staff.
DeWolf 11:20 on 2021-11-06 Permalink
// Oliveira said he often meets young potential employees and they say they only want to work one day a week, that many want to focus more on education, that they’re looking at getting into other more stable professions. He mentioned that two people currently working at Melrose Pizza are leaving to become electricians and that they started exploring this option when the restaurants were all closed during the pandemic. //
This is it. It’s not like restaurant workers were lazy and didn’t bother looking for work because of the CERB. Restaurants were closed for 10 months, and even those that switched to takeout were operating a reduced capacity, so the jobs just weren’t there. And by the time the jobs came back, people had moved on with their lives. My wife is training to become a woodworker and her vocational school is full of people who used to work as chefs, cooks, waiters, bartenders. Some of them tried going back to work when bars and restaurants reopened but just couldn’t juggle it with the full-time woodworking course.
Many restaurants are now offering better pay and conditions than they were before, which is great and necessary. But that won’t solve the problem because a large portion of workers just aren’t there anymore, and it’s not clear if anyone will replace them.
Uatu 11:44 on 2021-11-06 Permalink
The pandemic has shown how the restaurant business depends on nickel and diming every one from employees to customers to actually make money. And even successful restaurantuers like Mario Battali have been sued for unpaid overtime and tip garnishing. Even if covid becomes endemic would anyone want to return to the status quo and work the dish pit on a Friday night for minimum wage and no tips because you’re back of the house? The business model has to change because treating employees like garbage means they’ll never come back.
Kevin 12:18 on 2021-11-06 Permalink
The Great Resignation began in Canada last year when people realized how precarious their jobs were. Restaurateurs complaining now are very slow to the game.
JP 12:44 on 2021-11-06 Permalink
I read Brendan Kelly’s article yesterday and was wondering if it would be discussed here. I saw the exact quote Kate pointed out and was shocked to see it wasn’t a direct quote from someone interviewed. There’s a lot of judgement, negativity and resentment there…
Hopefully, this wave of change leads to better working conditions overall in restaurants and elsewhere.
steph 13:06 on 2021-11-06 Permalink
The restaurants will HAVE to adapt if they want to survive. CERB ended months ago and the workers are still refusing to return to those pitiful conditions. If employers can’t give living wages, then they don’t deserve to be in buisness. No one is shedding a tear for a failed buisness.
Kate 14:05 on 2021-11-06 Permalink
“People are quitting their jobs because they perceive their jobs suck. Not that complicated.” – Rands
EmilyG 20:59 on 2021-11-06 Permalink
Christo Aivalis on Twitter, about restaurant bosses:
“They cry about entitled workers when they literally feel entitled to workers”
https://twitter.com/christoaivalis/status/1456858079681712134?s=20
Ephraim 08:48 on 2021-11-07 Permalink
Abusive customers, abusive managers/bosses, unpredictable pay, revolving hours, last minute call-ins because of inability to schedule… I wonder why no one wants these jobs…
This needs a revolution and an end to tipping needs to be the start. Tipping is related to slavery… it was a way to employ people without paying them a wage. It needs to stop. These need to become jobs with dignity… not a dance for money. Not a fake smile while you sexually harass me, because I’m being paid as a percentage of what you eat. A dignified salaried job with benefits.