Mn Public Radio: Complex union fight playing out in old Mpls. restaurant

[Omaha Steve]

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/06/17/murrays-union-battle/?refid=0

by Annie Baxter, Minnesota Public Radio
June 18, 2010


Executive chef John VanHouse (left) prepares food at Murray's Restaurant in Minneapolis on Tuesday, June 15, 2010. (MPR Photo/Annie Baxter)


Minneapolis — In downtown Minneapolis, at a place better known for its pricey steak than labor disputes, a complicated labor dynamic has emerged that involves the owners of Murray's restaurant, the union representing workers there, and a warring restaurant staff.

Murray's is an iconic Twin Cities high-end steak house. In the dining area, Frank Sinatra pipes in through speakers, evoking the era when Murray's was founded back in 1946. The family-run restaurant has been a union shop from its inception. Management and the union have mostly gotten along well--until recently.


Tim Murray

"They wanted to break the union down there," said Nancy Goldman, the president of UNITE HERE Local 17, the union representing workers at Murray's steakhouse.

Goldman said the rapport between Murray's management and the union deteriorated last fall when workers' contracts expired. The restaurant's owners wanted a new contract that would slash wages and benefits, eliminating health care for most workers. Staff voted down two proposed contracts.

"They know us well enough to know that there's no sense for the union to take a contract that has no benefits and is equivalent to any non-union restaurant and maybe not even that good," Goldman said.

After several rounds of negotiations, Murray's management declared an impasse and imposed a cost-cutting contract. The legality of that contract is now before the National Labor Relations Board, which has already sided once with the union on the issue.

FULL story and auio story at link.