Workers at this Montreal landmark have been without a contract since February 2006. The first photo was taken coincidentally in February as I was walking to the train station after work. Ben's is one of the few places I remember coming to when I came on field trips to the city with my grandparents when I was little.
This is how it looks now, in November. The chairs and tables are all stacked at one end of the floor, the fondly-remembered lemon-yellow formica walls still covered by the autographed photos of celebrities who have come to this shrine to Montreal-style "Smoked Meat".
A sad day for our local culture when this family-run business goes away. I caught a hint of a headline about a new 28-storey building going up on this site when searching the Web, but couldn't actually find the article. I had noticed these signs going up, though.
These are the workers' demands, which seem pretty reasonable to me as a once (and hopefully future) customer.
- a Chef (cook)
- a meat cutting person
- new silverware, glassware, and toaster
- Repairs to the HVAC
- Reasonable seniority rights and wage increases
Ben's Wikipedia entry
