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Granby Burger King closes three months after it unionizes

The Burger King restaurant in Granby, whose employees formed a union last October, closed its doors without warning this week.

PRESSE CANADIENNE Updated: January 25, 2019

GRANBY — The Burger King restaurant in Granby, whose employees formed a union last October, closed its doors without warning this week.

In an interview with La Voix de l’Est, David Bergeron-Cyr, president of the Syndicat des employé-es de la restauration de la CSN, said that on Tuesday, shortly after unlocking the door to the establishment on Principale St., a union delegate was told by a man she didn’t know to leave the premises.

Since then, none of the employees have been able to retrieve their personal belongings. Signs were also posted on doors saying the Burger King was permanently closed, without an explanation. They suggested interested parties communicate with a law firm.

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The Granby Burger King was the first of the chain to receive union accreditation in Quebec. Negotiations over the past few weeks for a first collective agreement were not progressing, Bergeron-Cyr said.

https://montrealgazette.com/business/lo ... -unionizes

Reminds me of the Walmart in Quebec that closed almost immediately after it unionized. Samantha Bee of the Daily Show did a feature on it, and did a good job of mocking the head of the union who complained that all the workers were on welfare now. "It sure would be nice if someone would open a Walmart in your town" was her comment. Man she used to be funny.

Well then, there you go. If it is as stated and the store closed because of the unionization, that should be enough for folks to get the picture that unions are not needed or appreciated.

The store will likely open again down the line under A) New management B) New ownership C) A combination of both D) A new corporate name complete with new directors.

That is how you get away with it.

The workers have the right to unionize and the owners have the right to close the business.

When it does reopen, there will be clear yet not direct reference to the union failure with requests for understanding that it could happen again.

^^ Or that the management of Burger King are so afraid of unions that they don't realize that no, the sky does not fall when unionization occurs, not if you have good management and management practices.

It remains true today that "bad management begets unions" and the corollary "bad management begets bad unions".

My impression is that the MBA hedge fund type know nothings that "manage" such companies need a swift kick.

Properly managed, companies are very hard to unionize, even if not anti-union. My father's primary company was not union wood manufacturing (with a secondary "union" construction company - basically a shell that hired his employees a few days at a time to work on "closed" site installs). The IWA tried several times to unionize his shop - and got nowhere, because the employees were treated and paid properly with decent benefits etc.

The indication here is that the Burger King is not well managed. No union can gain a foothold in a well managed company.

Unhealthy fast food doesn't matter if it's prepared by union or non-union hands, still unhealthy.

hobbyguy wrote:
My impression is that the MBA hedge fund type know nothings that "manage" such companies need a swift kick.

Your impression is pretty uneducated. This isn't about one Burger King unionizing. It's a out all of them n Quebec unionizing.

Properly managed, companies are very hard to unionize, even if not anti-union.

Clearly you have zero experience operating in Quebec. But by all means let's hear your completely unrelated example anyway.

The indication here is that the Burger King is not well managed. No union can gain a foothold in a well managed company.

No. The indication here is that working people in Quebec are unrealistic and gullible and get screwed over by stupid unions. This is extremely clear.

hobbyguy wrote:The indication here is that the Burger King is not well managed. No union can gain a foothold in a well managed company.

More likely it's a franchise and if the wages and benefits increase they cannot increase their prices as they are controlled by Burger King. So lose money=closed doors.

If paying folks a decent wage means the business can no longer operate, then that's a business that shouldn't be in business in the first place.

Merry wrote:If paying folks a decent wage means the business can no longer operate, then that's a business that shouldn't be in business in the first place.

Unfortunately living wage at fast food joints equals no longer cheap eats. Since corporate will want maintain profit margins.

GordonH wrote:Unfortunately living wage at fast food joints equals no longer cheap eats. Since corporate will want maintain profit margins.

So maybe they need to increase their prices. Much as I enjoy having a cheap meal at a fast food place, if it's at the expense of somebody earning a living wage then we should all be willing to pay a bit more.

The fact I can afford to eat in such a place means my income is above the poverty line, because if it wasn't I couldn't afford to eat out. So if I'm earning enough to dine out now and again, that means I'm earning enough not to have to take advantage of folks who are worse off than myself.

If a business can't survive unless it pays it's workers ridiculously low wages, it's not a viable business in the first place.

Merry wrote:If paying folks a decent wage means the business can no longer operate, then that's a business that shouldn't be in business in the first place.

Fast food was never supposed to be a career path, why this misguided view that flipping burgers should afford a comfortable lifestyle is baffling. Great theory that burger king as a whole should just shut down because one small group had unrealistic desires though, that seemed quite reasonable.

Merry wrote:If a business can't survive unless it pays it's workers ridiculously low wages, it's not a viable business in the first place.

Merry this is a silly comment for several reasons. Firstly you have no idea what BK pays, and your idea of what is "ridiculously low" could be much different than what others think, based on their personal lifestyle and life choices. Secondly, why do you assume that this stupid union would have done anything about the wage rates? That union was there to suction cash off of gullible teenagers. There are no better than the "evil" company who gave these kids jobs in the first place.

Merry wrote:If paying folks a decent wage means the business can no longer operate, then that's a business that shouldn't be in business in the first place.

Kinda harsh statement for a fast food joint when it's acceptable for regular restaurants to rely on tips to supplement servers, maybe we should start there.

Unions are death to businesses

BK jobs etc are for teenagers looking to stay out of trouble, make a couple extra bucks (while living with parents), gain a little experience in the workplace, graduate, quit said fast food job, and carry on with life thereafter.. no unions necessary.

Work is work