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A dispute over working conditions at the St. James Smitty\u2019s location led some workers to walk off the job and management to lock out others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like it,\u201d he said, adding that the managers scrambled to serve patrons.<\/p>\n
Later that evening, Sheridine Tait-
\nReaume, 19, said in a public post online she no longer worked at the outlet, which she said was rife with problems.<\/p>\n
General manager Ahadullah Khojazada said the workers had been locked out after he raised their complaints with the owners.<\/p>\n
He emailed Employment Standards Manitoba about the lockout and asked that an investigation be conducted.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver 30 employees were impacted and forced out of the business,\u201d Khojazada wrote in the email, obtained by the Free Press, to the government agency.<\/p>\n
Many of the staff members held a small protest at the restaurant Thursday night. The group claims the owners have repeatedly ignored staff concerns, including allegations of mistreatment of customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy make a code of conduct if you\u2019re not going to respect it,\u201d staffer Tait-Reaume said at the protest.<\/p>\n
Khojazada said he had repeatedly raised human resources-related concerns and when he was told the issues would not be dealt with, he walked off the job on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to do what I could do within my power,\u201d he said of bringing the concerns forward to ownership. \u201cBut when I brought it to the superior authority, they were quiet about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As employees at the non-union shop gathered outside of the restaurant and voiced their concerns, the restaurant appeared to be operating normally.<\/p>\n
Valarie Funk, owner of the outlet, responded to the allegations in a statement.<\/p>\n