FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 24, 1998
Food festival leaves bad taste for some workers
Many ‘Taste of Edmonton’ restaurants are not paying employees
EDMONTON – Many of the people working at food booths at the Taste of Edmonton festival are not being paid for their work, the Alberta Federation of Labour has learned. After receiving several complaints about work arrangements at the popular annual festival, the AFL sent two staff members to investigate yesterday afternoon. "What we found was more than a little bit disturbing," says AFL Secretary Treasurer Les Steel. "We spoke with about thirty people from 15 different restaurants. Of the 15 restaurants, seven were paying their staff to work at the festival and eight were using volunteer labour." Among the restaurants that use paid labour, most are paying their staff the same wage they would earn for working a regular shift at their "home-base" restaurant. One restaurant is actually paying their employees extra to work at Taste of Edmonton to compensate for lost tips. This same restaurant is also covering parking costs for employees working the festival. On the other hand, some restaurants are paying their employees either nothing or very little. One hotel restaurant employee said he and his co-workers were being given 10 festival tickets each (a value of $7) in exchange for three or four hours of work. "These restaurants have convinced their employees to volunteer their time," says Steel. "They’ve convinced them that this is some kind of special event or promotion. This certainly inappropriate and we think something should be done about it." Steel says the AFL has contacted the government’s Employment Standards offices and an investigation is now underway. A spokesman for the department told Steel that he has "serious concerns" about the employment practices of some restaurants at the festival. "What’s happening here is that some employers are essentially asking their employees to work for free," says Steel. "This might be acceptable if the money from sales was going to charity or if the workers were engaged in some kind of volunteer activity for the community. But these workers are basically doing their regular jobs and the money is going into the owners’ pockets. From our point of view there is no good reason why these workers shouldn’t be paid." Steel says he has no beef with the K-Days Association, who organized the festival, or any of the restaurants who have been paying their employees. "We know that the problem lies with individual employers and not with the K-Days Association. And it’s certainly not our intention to give Taste of Edmonton a black eye," he says. "All we’re trying to do is make sure people working at the festival are being treated fairly. So, we’re very pleased that the Employment Standards office is taking these concerns seriously."
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