NEW YORK More than 500 members of the New York Hotel Trades Council, also known as Local 6, rallied at Tavern on the Green restaurant Friday, protesting what they say are plans to cut employee wages, benefits and pension funds when new operator Dean Poll takes over Jan. 1.
Poll, who last month was awarded a 20-year contract to operate the fine-dining restaurant located in New York City’s Central Park, reportedly submitted a proposal to union president Peter Ward that would nullify many of the provisions Tavern workers enjoy under their current agreement with the restaurant and its management.
“Full-time workers who’ve spent the last 20-plus years as loyal Tavern employees could see their health care plan eviscerated, wages slashed, and in some cases, jobs taken away from them,” Ward, who did not attend the rally, said in a prepared statement.
(Click here to view a slide show of the rally.)
Union spokesman John Turchiano claimed Poll wants to eliminate dozens of positions, pay employees a minimum wage and cut benefits — moves that the union and Tavern’s employees will not stand for.
“We will strike for a hundred years if necessary,” he said at the rally. “We will never, ever go away. Anyone who knows this union knows we intend to win this thing and protect our members and their families … and as far as Tavern on the Green is concerned, we want to see that it flourishes, whether that happens under Dean Poll’s management or with another contractor.”
Poll could not be reached directly for comment at press time.
Barry LePatner, an attorney representing Poll, said that despite repeated requests for a meeting, the union leader Ward has refused to pursue labor negotiations at Tavern on the Green. LePatner said that Poll intends to keep the restaurant a union shop when he takes over its operations.
“Mr. Poll has made it quite clear to the city and the union that he is sensitive to the employees’ needs and has clearly proposed he would maintain the workers’ salaries and current benefits. He intends to have a warm working relationship with the union and maintain the viability of that relationship,” LePatner said.
“Let me categorically state that this will be a union shop under Mr. Poll,” he added. “He is very confident that at the end of the day this will all result in an agreement that is very comfortable.”
Employees last struck Tavern on the Green in 1989 for 10 weeks.
Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer told the crowd at Friday’s rally that he would fight to ensure that Tavern’s employees would continue to enjoy their current standards of living.
“You cannot serve a $20 salad and cut the waiter’s pension,” he said. “That’s not going to happen — not during a recession, not in this city, not at this time.”
Tavern on the Green was managed since 1976 by Warner LeRoy until his death in 2001, and then by his daughter, Jennifer, whose contract with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation runs out Dec. 31. The operators entered into Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings earlier this month. In court papers, the restaurant, which boasts traffic of more than 500,000 guests a year and grosses about $34 million annually, indicated that one of its biggest creditors is Local 6, to which it owes about $1.8 million for pension and medical benefits.
Poll, who was awarded the contract after scores of other New York restaurant operators dropped out of the bidding, told the parks department he will spend $25 million to renovate the property and turn it into an eco-friendly establishment. As part of the agreement, Poll, who also operates the non-union Boathouse restaurant in Central Park, will pay an annual rent and percentage of revenues to the city.
Contact Elissa Elan at [email protected].