Two sides will meet Friday for conciliation talks; workers could walk by Canada Day
The servers who work at four of the Niagara Parks Commission's restaurants are "pissed off" that the NPC wants them to continue sharing their tips with restaurant management staff after being told to take a two-year wage freeze, said an organizer with the union representing the workers.
Now, because of the dispute, the servers have voted 100% in favour of strike action and could walk out before the Canada Day long weekend, said Alex Dagg, Canadian director of the Workers United union.
"It reflects that people are pissed off at the Niagara Parks Commission and that they support the union and they're willing to take that action if necessary," Dagg said.
The two sides will resume talks Friday after negotiations reached a stalemate, with a conciliation officer expected to discuss the hot-button issues with the two sides separately.
NPC chair Fay Booker said she hopes the two sides can avert a strike.
"I'm really hoping that we come to a mutual resolution," Booker said. "I want our staff to be satisfied that they're being respected."
Close to 100 workers belong to the Workers United Local 2347 union and work at Elements on the Falls, Edgewaters Tap and Grill, Whirlpool Golf Course, and Legends on the Niagara golf course.
On May 19, 100% of the union's members voted in favour of a strike if necessary.
The servers' previous contract expired Dec. 31, 2010.
In previous bargaining rounds, the union agreed to share tips with management staff as a concession for securing a "decent wage" to start of $9 an hour for adult workers and $8.90 an hour for student staffers, the union said.
That wage is less than the provincial $10.25-per-hour minimum wage but on par with the $8.90 starting wage for servers at licensed establishments in Ontario.
Common practice for workers across the province who earn that $8.90 servers wage is that they make up for the lower hourly amount with their tips.
Although, as Booker noted, some restaurants pool their tips for all of the restaurant staff to share.
"It's actually quite common in the industry that there is a sharing of tips with all the staff that are operating the restaurant," Booker said. "It's staff, it's not the company. Niagara Parks, the company, doesn't take any of the tips. It's people that are working at the site, if you're a frontline supervisor at a banquet, for example."
But Dagg said customers of those Niagara Parks restaurants would likely be "offended" if they were to find out that their tips aren't going to their waiter, but to a pool that is also shared with management staff who make a "much higher" wage than the servers.
"I actually think that if a lot of the customers knew that some of their tip was going to management staff, they might be kind've offended," Dagg said.
Dagg said she doesn't know exactly what the management staff makes because the union doesn't represent them.
"We don't have full disclosure of that because we don't bargain for them, but it's a substantially higher hourly rate than what the servers get," she said.
Booker could not say what the restaurant management staff are paid.
"I don't know if we would actually share what an individual's salary is," Booker said. "I would think that's going to fall into a personnel matter."
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