 "Photo: Margot Sanchez")
Delivery workers at Saigon Grill, a Vietnamese mini-chain popular among NYU students, are striking over conditions they call abusive and wages they say are less than $2 an hour.
About 20 workers protested yesterday outside the restaurant's University Place branch. The restaurant has been forced to stop delivery service because all delivery workers at the restaurants two locations - on University Place and on Amsterdam Avenue - refused to work, said Josephine Lee, the coordinator of the Justice Will Be Served campaign, which is helping the workers urge patrons to boycott the restaurant.
After discovering workers' plans to unionize and file a lawsuit, Saigon Grill locked them out of both locations, Lee said. Workers are now demanding to be rehired and paid minimum wage as well as overtime pay, she said.
Tony Truong, a manager of the University Place Saigon Grill, said the protesters are exaggerating.
"They just want to disturb," he said. "There is no abuse here, you can see."
He refused to answer further questions about the dispute, and attempts to reach the chain's owner were unsuccessful.
Lee said the restaurant's management asked employees to sign a contract saying that they earn the minimum wage.
"The owner knows what he did was illegal," Lee said.
A similar protest was held Wednesday at the Amsterdam Avenue location.
Campaign representative Tony Tsai said Saigon Grill delivery workers, even longtime employees, have been seriously abused.
"They work in a harsh environment, and the restaurant does not care about their safety," Tsai said. "They are called 'dogs.' It's unacceptable."
According to a statement from Justice Will Be Served, delivery workers are charged heavy fines for late deliveries, regardless of harsh weather conditions, and are sent to unsafe areas. The statement also says that when they are robbed or injured on the job, they must cover medical costs as well as the expense of the lost orders.
Nancy Eng, another campaign representative, translated interviews from Saigon Grill workers for WSN.
"I've been robbed before - I've had someone steal my money because I was working in a dangerous area," said Yuguan Ke, who has worked there for more than 10 years. "When that happened, I went to the police, but the boss didn't care. At the end of the night, he looked at all my receipts and orders and said, 'You have to pay it anyway.' "
Steinhardt freshman Danielle Baskin said that going to work should not be a risk.
"The managers have to know that this job is a necessity for these people, who are spending a majority of their time at work, and who have families at home," she said. "There has to be a team, not a hierarchy."
Tisch sophomore Maximillian Thornton Hencke said he would not continue to patronize the restaurant.
"I'm not really motivated to go back to Saigon Grill," he said. "It's terrible that they mistreat their workers, and it makes me think of how many other restaurants have this same situation."
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