Chicago-Area Sandwich Shop Fires All Of Its Employees Via Email Days Before Christmas

[xchrom]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/12/24/3103011/chicago-area-sandwich-shop-fires-employees-email-days-christmas/



Eighteen workers who comprised the bulk of the staff at Snarf’s Sub Shop’s River North location in Chicago are out of jobs this holiday season after the Denver-based company told them via email on Sunday that they were fired, effective Monday. The store is closing for renovations after months of declining business. The news was first reported by Chicago Grid.

The timing, coming just days before Christmas, has touched off a wave of criticism towards the company. And so has the fact that many of the 18 fired employees had partaken in a nationwide day of action earlier this month aimed at pressuring fast-food companies to pay their low-level employees a higher wage.

A company spokeswoman told The Huffington Post that while the strikes were “tough on us as a business,” the firings were not in retaliation for the walkouts.

In their email to employees, Snarf’s suggested that the fired employees apply for unemployment benefits, a common tip that fast food companies have been relying on when advising its employees on ways to get by on their minimum-wage salaries. A recent study from the University of California-Berkley found that American taxpayers pay an estimated $243 billion a year on public benefits programs for families who are working jobs that pay them low wages.

[tridim]

1. They might want to start by trashing "Snarf's" as the name

Catering to stoners isn't a terrible idea, but when the name of a restaurant rhymes with "barf" you're probably going to not do well with the squares.

I know this is off topic, obviously it sucks that these people were let go.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. Even the nicest sense of the word still implies food not meant to savor and enjoy.

I'm sure some marketing wunderkinds focus group'd the hell out of the name beforehand, though.

[NM_Birder]

3. Months of business on the decline ................

I wonder if the fired employees saw a decline in business leading up to the strike, or if that is an excuse offered to justify firing everyone.

[stevenleser]

4. I've tweeted this out to my followers asking them to tell all their Chicago friends to

never eat there again.

[PsychoBunny]

5. Something doesn't make sense here

In

their email to employees, Snarf’s suggested that the fired employees apply for unemployment benefits, a common tip that fast food companies have been relying on when advising its employees on ways to get by on their minimum-wage salaries.

How can the employees apply for unemployment benefits when they are working at minimum wage salaries? What am I missing here?

And if the company fired "the bulk" of their staff, who is left and what are they doing? management?

[Iggo]

6. When our company temporarily cut our hours a couple/few years back...

...we applied for and received unemployment for the lost hours, and that covered about half of the lost income iirc. Maybe it's something like that.

[PsychoBunny]

7. I didn't know that

Good to know.