The Secret Backyard Bar & Cafe closed abruptly throughout service on Friday morning after employees started petitioning passers-by about their efforts to type a union.
Metropolis Road Traders opened Secret Backyard a 12 months in the past, subsequent to its firm headquarters on the Tears–McFarlane Home, 1290 Williams St., a historic mansion adjoining to Cheesman Park in Denver. However barista Tess Devillier instructed the Denver Put up that the corporate grew pissed off by worker makes an attempt to unionize earlier this 12 months.
She mentioned she was working Friday when two of the agency’s staff emptied the cafe — which is likely one of the solely eating places situated adjoining to a park in Denver — closed the doorways and instructed staff of the closure. “I used to be crying and having to serve the folks that already paid for his or her espresso,” Devillier mentioned. “They shut us down, no discover, no information.”
Metropolis Road Traders advertising and branding director Kirsten Becker confirmed Secret Backyard’s closure in an announcement Friday afternoon. She mentioned the cafe closed as a result of it was working at a “vital loss” and never due to the union.
“The restaurant was a monetary failure. It by no means posted a revenue,” she mentioned in an announcement concerning the restaurant, espresso store and cocktail bar. “There isn’t a connection to the worker unionization.”
Metropolis Road Traders is a significant investor in eating places and restaurant properties in Denver, together with many in Union Station, together with the Lowry Beer Backyard, Billy’s Inn and extra.
A majority of about 20 workers members voted to unionize this summer season, Devillier mentioned. After a scheduled bargaining assembly this week, Metropolis Road Traders instructed staff about their intent to shut Secret Backyard later this month, she mentioned.
The closure got here sooner than anticipated after staff started telling parkgoers concerning the unionization effort, she mentioned. She specified the employees have been off responsibility and never on firm property, however moderately close to the strolling path on the park grounds.
“There was a line out the door,” she mentioned. “A few higher-ups closed the doorways and we sat in there for a second.”
“They wouldn’t reply any questions, and so we grabbed our stuff and clocked out,” she mentioned.
In an announcement, the UFCW Native 7 union mentioned, “This sudden shutdown not solely displaces employees who have been organizing to enhance their office but additionally strips the area people of a beloved gathering area. Staff and supporters are calling on Denver residents to face in solidarity. Metropolis Road Traders — an organization with deep ties to publicly supported improvement initiatives and a number of well-known eating places throughout the area.”
In the identical assertion, UFCW Native 7 President Kim Cordova added, “This retaliatory closure in response to what’s clearly exercise protected beneath Federal regulation is simply the most recent in a string of illegal acts dedicated by Secret Backyard and its company homeowners, Metropolis Road Traders, to silence the voices of employees and retaliate in opposition to them for unionizing.”
Secret Backyard’s social media pages and web site have been not accessible on Friday. Ex-employees continued to petition for signatures at Cheesman Park on Friday afternoon following the closure.
Metropolis Road Traders operates Union Station and the Schoolyard Beer Backyard within the close by Golden Triangle neighborhood. It just lately introduced it will purchase The Fort in Morrison upon the retirement of the restaurant’s proprietor subsequent 12 months.
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