Crime

Hundreds Call for Boycott of Calavera Restaurant After Alleged Labor Abuse

Published

8 years ago

July 8, 2016

Hundreds of restaurant workers and community members are calling for a boycott of Calavera, a Mexican restaurant in downtown Oakland, after several kitchen workers were fired from a job they say was riddled with abuse and wage theft.

Flor Crisostomo, originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, and four other colleagues have filed a class-action lawsuit against the restaurant’s owners Christopher Pastena and Michael Iglesias for repeatedly violating labor laws.

According to the former employees, the employers did not pay minimum wage, failed to compensate the employees for overtime work and did not provide legally required time for breaks and lunch.

“When we worked there, they started firing workers by text message or they’d just take them off the schedule without saying anything,” said Crisostomo in an interview with the Post. “Some of us would work for 12 or 14 hours straight with no break, and we didn’t know our rights.”

Crisostomo also says the owners used her to appropriate traditional recipes of Oaxacan food—such as tamales and moles—which she knows because she is indigenous to the Mexican region.

Flor Crisostomo. Photo courtesy of Brooke Anderson Photography.

For Crisostomo, the experience has led her and several other restaurant workers to call for community action in educating immigrant workers of their labor rights and revealing to customers the conditions that those working in kitchens often face.

After being fired from Calavera, the workers formed the Bay Area Restaurant Workers Movement (BARWM) to bring attention to local labor rights.

According to a statement released by Calavera’s management to the Post, the restaurant has files contradicting the former workers’ claims that they were not paid minimum wage, given payment for overtime or made breaks mandatory.

“We value all of our employees at Calavera and work hard to maintain a healthy and supportive work environment, as is evidenced in the positive support we’ve had from the Calavera staff,” according to the statement.

It continues to say that the restaurant’s ownership and management is a multi-cultural group with longtime roots in Oakland.

During last week’s First Friday, over 100 people picketed outside Calavera, rallying for the former employees and calling for reparations for the wage theft and abuse they say they faced as immigrant workers and enlightening potential customers of their experiences.

“Undocumented workers are the most likely to be exploited due to the fact they have little knowledge of labor laws in the states that they’re employed in,” said Shonda Roberts of the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly.

“A lot of our sisters and brothers who are undocumented also don’t speak up against abuse because they’re afraid of retaliation and being fired,” Roberts said.

According to BARWM, workers’ legal rights include a 10-minute break after four hours of work, a lunch break after five and a half hours of work, a minimum wage of $12.55 an hour and paid sick days after 90 days of work.

“The majority of kitchen workers are people of color, and Oakland earns the fifth highest revenue for restaurants in the country,” said Crisostomo. “We are calling on the Oakland community to help us build a conscious movement for justice.”

“I understand the conditions many of my colleagues work under, in fear of being fired if they stand up for their rights,” she said. “But the violation of our rights will continue to happen unless we do something about it.”

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Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

Published

10 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Man Found Guilty After Shooting Gun into Parked Car with Sleeping Passengers

Carmen Watts fired his gun into a parked car, where two unarmed men were sleeping, several times. One victim suffered multiple wounds, while the other was uninjured. He now faces 23 years in state prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 in Department 10 at the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.

Published

3 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Post Staff

A jury has returned a guilty verdict against Camren Watts on two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm for an unprovoked shooting near the intersection of 51^st Street and West Street in Oakland back in September of 2020.

Watts fired his gun into a parked car, where two unarmed men were sleeping, several times. One victim suffered multiple wounds, while the other was uninjured. He now faces 23 years in state prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 in Department 10 at the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.

“I first want to thank the jury for their service and careful deliberation in this trial,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts. “I also want to congratulate the Prosecution Team for their hard work securing this conviction and recognize the Inspector on this assignment for their support throughout the case and jury trial. This guilty verdict reaffirms that anyone who uses a gun to harm people in our community will be held to account for their actions in a court of law.”

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Bay Area

New Interim Mayor Nikki Bas Takes Office, Announces Balanced Budget

“The Council made difficult but clear decisions last night,” Mayor Bas said in a statement released Thursday. “With yesterday’s budget adoption, the City of Oakland is on track to maintain our immediate fiscal health and our emergency reserves are at the required level.”

Published

3 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Nikki Fortunato Bas. Courtesy photo.

‘The Council made difficult but clear decisions,’ said Bas

Kaplan proposed for Interim District 2 Council seat

By Post Staff

Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas was sworn in interim mayor on Wednesday and immediately sat down with City Council members to rebalance the city’s budget, closing a projected deficit and maintaining emergency financial reserves.

“The City now seeks to move forward in strong collaboration with its Labor partners and the community-led Budget Advisory Commission toward long-term fiscal sustainability,” she said. “We all deserve to feel safe and secure, whether we’re taking our kids out to play, running our essential small businesses, parking our car on the street, or walking home at night.”

Bas took over as mayor from Sheng Thao, whose last day in office was Tuesday after losing a recall election in November.

“Thank you for choosing me to serve as your mayor. As the first Hmong American woman to become the mayor of a major American city, it has been the honor of my lifetime. I am deeply proud of the progress we created together,” Thao said.

Bas, in her final remarks as a councilmember, proposed that the City Council appoint Kaplan to replace her until the April election.

“As you know Councilmember Kaplan is retiring, she is willing to serve in this interim capacity. She is a resident of District 2 in Jack London, will not run for the seat in the special election; and I believe that she is uniquely qualified to jump in and immediately help to serve our District 2 residents, as well as key projects moving forward, and of course help lead the city’s biennial budget process,” Bas said.

At its meeting this week, the Council affirmed the City Administrator’s budget balancing actions, utilizing unrestricted and transferred funds to help fill the gap and provided direction and strategies to close the remaining need.

The proposals include finding new revenue from increased events and success at the Oakland Coliseum/Arena and other sources, making any further cuts a last resort.

They also proposed to immediately collect unpaid business taxes by doing an internal audit and strengthen controls on OPD overtime overspending.

Said Councilmember Kaplan, “It is vital to protect core public services, and the long-term fiscal solvency of our city. I am honored that the extra available funds I had previously identified have been confirmed, and are being incorporated into budget strategies, allowing Oakland to reduce cuts and restore reserves. In addition, important public serving and revenue-generating functions are being strengthened, including to reduce blight and provide safer, cleaner streets.”

Councilmember Kevin Jenkins (District 6) said, “The Fire Department, which had been preserved from cuts in July, was able to rapidly stop the Keller Fire from growing out of control, which prevented a repeat of the horrific loss of life and loss of homes that took place during the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire.”

According to a Mayor’s Office press statement, Oakland’s investments in the Oakland Police Department and the Department of Violence Prevention have yielded the fastest and most dramatic reduction in homicides in the city’s history.

The City’s deep investments in public safety over the past year continue to pay off, with homicides down 35% year-to-date and overall crime down by 34% since last year. The Public Safety Leadership team is very strong with OPD Chief Floyd Mitchell, DVP Chief Dr. Holly Joshi, OFD Chief Damon Covington, and their deputy chiefs having over a century of collective experience in Oakland.

The budget proposals preserve Oakland’s Ceasefire violence intervention strategy, prioritize OPD patrol and investigations, and continue services to improve 911 response times, with currently 71% of calls answered within 15 seconds or less — a dramatic improvement over the prior year, the press statement said.

Oakland’s investments in sidewalk repair, street paving, clearing abandoned autos, and safer conditions on our roadways are improving both safety and quality of life. The proposals restore funding for important and needed bicycle and pedestrian safety projects, street paving, and parking enforcement, the statement said.

The Council is considering a sales tax ballot measure for the April 15 special election. The proposed half-cent sales tax increase would raise approximately $29 million annually. Ongoing revenue generation and improved efficiencies would help address the City’s structural deficit in the next two-year budget.