Employee discontent at 13 Coins restaurant
I've never eaten at 13 Coins, just because the 24-hour diner doesn't really appeal to me (it seems kind of dark in there). But I have a friend who refuses to eat there on account of a rift going on between the employees and owners. The P-I describes the situation in an article today. It seems employees are demanding affordable health care from new owners who purchased the place in 2006. Employees lost medical coverage in the sale, creating much friction. A co-owner even won the 2006 Grinch of the Year award from advocacy group Jobs with Justice (ouch). So yesterday, union members took their appeal to Lenny Wilkens, a former National Basketball Association coach and investor. They gathered outside the Lenny Wilkens Foundation on the Eastside. Among the group was Aidan Kennedy, who earns $8.50 an hour plus tips, according to the P-I's article. His young son is on state benefits. "I'd like to get him on something better," he told the newspaper.
But according to the P-I, 13 Coins isn't alone in its policy of not providing the coverage. The reporter writes: "A recent poll of about 600 businesses by the Washington chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business found that 93 percent of businesses oppose mandatory health insurance or having to pay money into a state program that would help the uninsured."
Comments
The 13 coins was always a fun place to go late at night in the 70's and 80's. Earl Owens was the executive chef who created the menus at El Gaucho, Metropolitan Grill etc...I heard that it's getting remodeled and will have an updated menu with some of the old items. I think it will be great to have a place to go after the theatre or Seattle Center other than Dick's Drive in.
Posted by: Tamara Wilson | January 24, 2008 12:26 PM
Tamera: Did you read the article????!?
Yeah, the 13 Coins was a fun place in the 80's, but this is 2008!
Healthcare for employees is a REAL issue, but should ALL restaurants be required to provide healthcare insurance? For the smaller independently-owned restaurants, profit margins are so low that they can't!
I propose that the Washington Restaurant Association get a "group" policy for their members and the restaurants can go halfsies with their employees on the policy costs.
Posted by: ShouldEveryRestaurantProvideHealthcare? | January 24, 2008 12:58 PM
I did read the article, first thing this morning. Health care is a national problem and the costs are huge for small business. The margins are smaller and smaller in the restaurant business due to fuel costs, taxes and increasing food cost. I wonder what other restaurants do to manage health care for employees?
Posted by: tamara wilson | January 24, 2008 1:08 PM
Since when did it become the employers responsibility solely to buy insurance for employees, this should be a benefit that is negotiated as part of a free labor market. If you want insurance as part of your compensation package then don't work for people who don't provide it. If everyone did this, then the market would adjust.
What next, should our employers pay our car insurance? Homeowner's/Renters? I mean we need cars to get to work, we need homes to get sleep to work. Should our employers pay our kids college tuition, tuck us in at night, etc....?
You could make $8.50 an hour and work at Starbuck's with full benefits, they are ALWAYS hiring, so if you don't like it, quit, seriously. And don't give me that working poor crap, I've been working poor my entire adult life, I still don't think its my employer's job to insure my health. I'm all growed up now!
Posted by: Rich Boswell | January 24, 2008 2:09 PM
Very illuminating discussion. The USA is one of, or maybe even the only western industrialized country that does not ensure health care for all its citizens. I want my tax dollars to be used in this way: To provide every child a fighting chance to grow up into a healthy adult and for every adult to receive the care they need to be happy and productive workers, parents, and citizens. As you oprobably guessed, I will not be eating at 13 Coins unless they change their policy about health care.
Posted by: Believer in Public Health | January 24, 2008 5:06 PM
Believer in Public Health, I'm pretty interested in your statistics, having spent the summer in Canada (the shining light of health care, apparently) it is a misconception that all their citizens are insured. When you have security keeping dying patients out of a hospital because they don't have insurance, when you have people with strokes not being treated until their credit card clears, believe me I would much rather be alive and in debt than dying at the feet of security outside of a hospital that won't treat me. If universal health care was possible, and I've yet to see a truely successful model, I would be 100% on board, but it hasn't been so far.
Posted by: Noury | January 26, 2008 10:49 AM
Uhhh...I always enjoyed their seafood frittata.
Posted by: Allan | January 27, 2008 1:07 PM