CHICAGO (CBS) — Employees of a River North sandwich shop received the ultimate lump of coal Sunday night, right before Christmas: They were all fired.
The news came impersonally, via email, with a notice that the nearly 20 workers at Snarf’s sub shop at Chicago and Larrabee are terminated.
Kevin Brown worked there for almost three years. Just like that, his 30-hour-a-week, $10-an-hour job was gone.
“Two days before Christmas — it’s absolutely ridiculous,” he tells CBS 2’s Dana Kozlov.
Seventeen other Snarf’s employees also got the electronic boot. A company spokesperson confirms that.
Many of those terminated took part in the one-day restaurant strike earlier this month demanding higher wages.
A company spokesperson says there is no connection. The representative blames the closing on declining business and says there are plans to renovate the restaurant. She said the former employees can seek unemployment benefits and are welcome to reapply for their jobs when the business reopens next year.
The Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago is looking into the matter, to see if there is anything illegal about the sudden terminations and no future job guarantees.
