NEW YORK—Members of Brandworkers, a worker’s rights organization, protested outside Manhattan midtown restaurant the Artisanal Bistro on Sunday afternoon. The protesters are unhappy with the café’s ongoing business with the seafood purveyor Wild Edibles Inc., a corporation now under federal investigation for violating workers’ rights.
Protesters held posters calling on Artisanal Bistro to stop providing a market to Wild Edibles. Many members of Brandworkers International have previously worked at Wild Edibles, and many say they are owed overtime pay from Wild Edibles.
“Wild Edibles’ owner, Richard Martin, has chosen not to pay its workers for overtime,” said Benjamin Ferguson from Brandworkers International. “[Martin] fires them at will when they try to fight for their deserved wages, and has even paid its workers to counter-protest against us, which is illegal.”
Forty New York restaurants, including Pastis, Union Square Cafe, and Asia de Cuba have stopped purchasing seafood from Wild Edibles in support of workers’ rights.
“I’ve been working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for 11 years with Wild Edibles,” said Cesar Barturen, previously a delivery driver at Wild Edibles. “Yet they never paid me overtime. I'd like to go back to the company and work now, but I hope to receive compensation for all those hours that I’ve worked.”
Wild Edibles is now under an injunction from a federal judge. Many workers have filed lawsuits to demand overtime wages. Two complaints by the Labor Board have also been filed against Wild Edibles for interfering with workers’ right to unionize.
“I clocked 50 to 55 hour weeks, but was never paid,” said Raymundo Lara, a two-year employee at Wild Edibles. “When I tried to ask for compensation, I was fired right away … The manager treated workers with no respect, and when we ask for working supplies such as gloves, there are never enough.”
Councilman Eric Gioia of Queens visited the protest and met with the workers: “It takes a lot of courage for you to be standing here today and I thank you for your courage.”
Customers, however, did not seem to be affected by the crowd that gathered outside the restaurant.
A statement released by Terrance Brennan, Chef-Proprietor of Artisanal Bistro states, “Wild Edibles has been, and continues to be, a reputable and reliable source of quality seafood for Artisanal. Since we have no evidence to date that confirms Wild Edibles has engaged in illegal or unethical practices, labor or otherwise, we continue to purchase seafood from them.”
On the other hand, according to Brandworkers, Artisanal wrote to Brandworkers on August 14 that it would no longer buy seafood from Wild Edibles after being informed of the widespread abuse.
“However, this was merely a ruse as the new supplier ‘Blue Harvest’ is nothing more than an alias for Wild Edibles,” said Ferguson.
