Come support Boathouse workers at rally in Central Park on April 21

The anti-union operator of the Boathouse restaurant and banquet facility in Central Park is about to learn that there is power in numbers. The Union is holding a rally outside the restaurant on April 21, and you can bet that there will be plenty of people there to show support for the Boathouse workers.

In the ongoing organizing drive at the Central Park restaurant it has become apparent that Boathouse operator Dean Poll is one of the worst employers the Union has ever encountered. The list of grievances against him and his management staff is lengthy and shameful. Poll was found guilty of illegally firing employees for union activity at another restaurant in 1993. Boathouse banquet department employees were forced to sue the restaurant for tips it owes them, an amount some estimate to be as high as $3 million! The Comptroller's office found the Boathouse shortchanging New York City for almost $400,000 in licensing fees. There are complaints filed with New York State about the Boathouse's failure to pay proper wage rates and other labor law violations. The Union has filed more than a dozen unfair labor practice charges against Poll and his management team.

You get the idea. This is a bad employer.

But it gets worse. Dean Poll behaves like this in a facility that is owned not by him but by the people of New York. The restaurant is owned by the City of New York and it sits on public land, right in the middle of Central Park, and yet Poll behaves as if he is completely above the law. He doesn't have a lease to operate the Boathouse, he has a license. And like any other license, such as those issued by the state to allow you to legally drive a car, the license to operate the Boathouse is a privilege and not a permit to do anything you want.

Since the Boathouse workers began an organizing drive, Poll's behavior has been ruthless. Employees have been illegally fired - the managers often call them layoffs - for union activity. Poll has threatened to close the restaurant if the workers unionize. Boathouse management has engaged in illegal surveillance of employees. Poll and his team have illegally changed benefits - to intimidate some employees and to bribe others. In fact, the Union has documented more than 100 instances where Dean Poll and his management staff have violated Boathouse employees' legal rights to join our Union.

Many of these instances have been recorded on tape, as reported in the NY Daily News a month ago by columnist Juan Gonzalez. The Union has filed numerous unfair labor practice charges against Poll with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the board is expected to take action in the near future.

It should be noted that the NLRB settled an earlier unfair labor practice charge against Poll by forcing him to read a statement in front of employees and with two NLRB agents as witnesses. Soon after reading the statement, however, he went ahead and broke the law again. And again. He is a repeat offender of the highest - or lowest - order.

Unfortunately, Poll's illegal behavior isn't the only demerit he gets as an employer. Boathouse workers are poorly paid, have few if any benefits, have serious workplace safety issues and are subject to random mistreatment by management.

That gives you an idea of what led to their organizing drive. And considering these facts, it is certainly no surprise that a sizeable majority of Boathouse employees want to be members of our Union and want to exercise their collective bargaining rights.

But while a solid majority of Boathouse employees have signed union authorization cards, the NLRB is holding off on having an election because there have been so many illegal acts by management and they have been so serious in nature. In the meantime, the employees and the Union are making preparations to take whatever actions become necessary to force Poll to obey the law. One of those actions is the upcoming rally on April 21.

"These courageous employees are standing up to a brutal terror campaign waged against them by the most ruthless anti-union employer in New York City," Peter Ward says in a newsletter being distributed in the shops. "This rally will be the first major public event in support of the Boathouse workers. Unfortunately, it may only be the first of many."

As we went to press, word was already spreading through the shops about the rally in Central Park.

"In our Union we take care of our own," Ward says. "We intend to support the Boathouse workers and I am confident that our membership will respond strongly to assist in this effort."

The rally will be outside the Boathouse on April 21 at 4:30pm and members are urged to participate!