Posted on 11/11/2022 10:13:24 AM PST by Twotone
The popular Boston-area coffee chain Darwin’s Ltd. announced plans to close the store’s original Harvard Square location at the end of the month, prompting some workers to stage a protest at Cambridge City Hall on Sunday denouncing the move.
The Mount Auburn St. location is set to close its doors after 30 years this December, owners Steven and Isabel Darwin announced in an Instagram post on Oct. 26.
Darwin’s United — a union representing the chain’s employees — responded by organizing a protest at City Hall, where workers rallied on Sunday before gathering outside the Darwins’ Cambridge home.
“We have been offered no guarantees of jobs for those who want to stay, no guarantee that workers will have an income going into winter,” the union wrote in a Twitter statement. “We will not back down, we will not take this.”
Mark Spires, general manager of the Harvard Square location, said the lease for the store ends on Dec. 1.
Spires said the decision seemed sudden, adding that Steven Darwin had been planning to lease long-term equipment for the store as of a month ago.
“I think he might not have actually realized until pretty recently that he’s going to make this decision,” Spires said.
The Sunday protest included members of several Boston-area labor organizations, including Harvard’s graduate student union and the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers. Unions representing employees at other area coffee chains, including Starbucks and Pavement, also had members present.
At the rally, union members called on the Darwins to keep workers at the Harvard Square store employed if they wished to stay on and reiterated past demands for $24 per hour wages, three weeks paid time off, and zero-deductible healthcare for employees.
“We know that Steve has long been considering selling the business..."
(Excerpt) Read more at thecrimson.com ...
Maybe the coffee shop is having trouble adjusting to the changing environment.
The Union’s demands would motivate most owners to sell the business and leave town....
If the protests get too ugly I suppose the owner could leave town first.
;-)
Shouldn’t the store be torn down and replaced by a giant windmill surrounded by solar panels?
Sell the business to the loudmouth ‘workers’ who think they have all the power.
> reiterated past demands for $24 per hour wages, three weeks paid time off, and zero-deductible healthcare for employees <
I applaud these workers for their restraint. After all, they could have also asked for retirement at full pay after one year of employment.
[demands for $24 per hour wages, three weeks paid time off, and zero-deductible healthcare for employees.]
I would hold out for double hourly breaks, free catered meals and beer on tap in the employee lounge.
Someone should inform the workers that a business can’t pay for the wages and bennies if it’s broke.
.....Harvard’s graduate student union......
I was a Harvard Graduate Student, and received a PhD from Harvard!!
And I say that there should NOT be a graduate student union—at Harvard or any other university!!!!
And I hope that no one skipped Church in order to stage a Sunday protest!!!!
“Darwin’s United — a union representing the chain’s employees “
I think I see the problem
I thought that it was owned by the Finches.
Sell the business to the loudmouth ‘workers’ who think they have all the power.
___________
That’s what I was thinking. Surely they would know how to run a business so as to make millions for themselves.
The comments section of the Harvard Crimson is encouraging.
Yeah, $24 per hour wage, free health care (no deductible), seems like it would be hard to make a profit.
Here’ a thought. The current lease ends 12/1. The Union should lease the place and reopen, pay the workers and provide health care. Put their money where their mouth is.
And I wonder if that’s part of the reason the business is closing. The lease is up and perhaps they weren’t able to negotiate favorable terms going forward. Perhaps the payment of such high wages is making that location unprofitable.
Too many people just don’t understand how businesses work. This business probably does not have a huge profit margin to start with.
So, if you go union you can’t shut down your own business when you want?
It is very easy to close a business.
Lock the doors.
Leave town.
Leave the state.
Game. Set. Match.
As a small business owner, it’s been my experience that many non-business owners assume that we have a 6secret vault full of Scrooge McDuck money.
The first Union was coal miners, they really need a union at first ascthey were desperatrly sbused. When they got too greedy, the countries industries converted to petroleum.
OMG the balls on this guy. “We know that Steve has long been considering selling the business, but the timing really couldn’t be worse,” said Sam White, a Darwin’s United representative.
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