Workers at The Original Pantry Cafe protested outside the iconic downtown L.A. restaurant Wednesday morning, claiming that the Richard Riordan Trust is threatening to close the eatery unless employees give up union protections.
Cooks, servers, and bussers carried signs calling for the cafe's owners, the Riordan Trust, to agree to keep the employees on even if the restaurant was sold to new owners.
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Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, said this impasse is not what former Mayor Richard Riordan, who bought the restaurant years ago, would have wanted.
"[Riordan's] desire was that these restaurants would continue and the workers who are there would continue working in those restaurants," said Petersen. "However, the trust that is now in charge of taking care of Mayor Riordan's assets has decided to close the restaurant and not guarantee that the workers will have any job security should it reopen with somebody else."
According to Petersen, when the union put workers' protections on the negotiation table, the trust said they would close the restaurant in 2 weeks.
KNX News' Pete Demetriou reports that the owners have reduced their long-standing 24/7 service to Wednesday through Sunday from 7 AM to 3 PM, according to their website.
Workers who have been there for 20 to 45 years are aggravated and angry over what they call a betrayal by the Riordan Trust.
They insist that there should be good faith negotiations to try to find a way to keep the workers on, even if a new owner is actually found for the restaurant.
Marisella Grenados, who has worked at the restaurant for 26 years, said, "We don't know what's really going on or why they want to shut it down. They just gave us until March 2nd, and that's it at 5 o'clock."
The problem is that the Riordan Trust has not said whether they have a buyer in mind for the restaurant, which has been at 8th and Figueroa for roughly 101 years.
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