Halifax coffee shop employees protest over unpaid wages

Dozens of protesters gathered to spread their message outside of Just Us! café on Spring Garden Road Saturday, March 31, 2018.

CLARIFICATION – The Just Us! Coffee Roasters café on Spring Garden Road where the protests occurred on Saturday was sold in September 2017 and is now operating as the Smiling Goat café. The wage dispute has nothing to do with the Just Us! Coffee Roasters Cooperative, although their coffee and other products are sold there. This is an updated story.

Employees and a former supervisor claim the current owner of the Smiling Goat coffee shop owes thousands of dollars in unpaid wages.

Dozens of protesters gathered Saturday to spread their message outside of the former Just Us! café on Spring Garden Road in Halifax.

“We won't stop until he fulfills those obligations. We will keep escalating until we get the money we are all owed,” says employee Charlie Huntley.

The protest outside the café was monitored inside by former manager Mike Sampson, who feels the company can treat employees with more respect in terms of wages because the company is financially viable.

“I want to see some closure here … I want the staff that worked with me, myself to get paid, to get cleared up with that,” says Sampson.

The store owners and managers of the coffee shops wouldn't provide comment and there was no answer at the address listed in the Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock companies.

Local union president Jacqueline Swaine says some shops are unionized and some have made applications to the Labour Board to become unionized with the Service Employees International Union.

“I can’t believe that there’s an employer who thinks its OK to treat employees this way,” says Swaine.

Nova Scotia NDP Leader Gary Burrill believes the conflict over wages has become a matter of public interest.

“I think it's just a core line that there are some things that do not happen, that cannot happen, and this is over that line, so all business needs to understand this,” says Burrill.

Workers say their only recourse is protest in an industry they say is sensitive about public image.

CTV News has made numerous attempts to reach out to the owners of the Smiling Goat for comment, but no response has been received.

Workers tell CTV that they generally deal with owner Kit Singh through email, but he hasn’t responded to any inquiries.

The owners of Just Us! Coffee Roasters, who sold their Spring Garden Road and King’s Wharf locations last year, say they are willing to help with the situation as much as they can.

“In 2017 we sold our two HRM locations in good faith … We will work to resolve the underlying concerns within the parameters we are allowed and able,” said general manager Joey Pittoello.