Change brings hope for resto staff
Restaurant workers put out of work during the COVID-19 pandemic are welcoming the new Biden administration with open arms, as long as the nation’s new leaders stick to promises they made the battered industry on the campaign trail.
“We’re absolutely hopeful. This is a huge turning point with the new administration coming in,” said Katelyn Lewis, who has been furloughed from her job at East Somerville restaurant La Brasa since last March.
During her 10 months out of work, Lewis and his husband — who also works in the restaurant industry — welcomed their daughter, 6-month-old Rosie.
“Our entire family has been impacted,” she said, noting that she and her husband have taken on “odd jobs” during the pandemic to make ends meet.
Lewis, with little Rosie strapped to her chest, rallied Tuesday with other restaurant workers in Somerville to celebrate President-elect Joe Biden’s Wednesday inauguration. Biden’s largely pro-labor economic plan promises a $15 minimum wage nationwide — a controversial vow that many restaurant workers continue to back in spite of their industry’s current turmoil.
Countless restaurants and bars across the Commonwealth have shuttered since the pandemic’s start, and many other have gone “into hibernation” to save operating expenses until vaccines are widely available.
But restaurant owners like Josh Lewin, who co-owns Union Square eatery Juliet, said supporting tip-dependent workers like servers and bartenders now is critical to the industry’s long term health.
“Look, it’s difficult to pay more in expenses at a time when we’re going through this pandemic response, but it was difficult three years ago when there was no pandemic. We can’t separate the individual worker — their importance, their health, and their need for a basic income,” he told the Herald.
Although they said they’re hopeful, restaurant workers don’t have a clear view of what the industry’s recovery will look like, or how long it will take.
“We’re still as much in the dark as anybody else right now,” Lewin said, referencing the jumbled rollout of vaccinations and inability of many people to agree to social distancing and face covering guidelines. “All of this affects the timeline at which restaurants can come back, so we really need to work together.”
“Trying to get ahead of the curve is going to be really difficult,” Lewis said.
After rallying in the square, attendees erected an 18-foot wooden statue of a masked restaurant worker they call “Elena the essential worker” for view of pedestrians and cars passing through the busy restaurant district.