Union says rest stop plaza Dunkins not paying full wage
NEW HAVEN — The package about 17 union members and highway rest stop workers had for Applegreen Corp. Northeast CEO Trevor Moore wasn't exactly a typical holiday gift.
It was a bag full of “cash” — more than $1 million in play money, to be exact — representing an amount the union said Applegreen, an Irish company, improperly has withheld from about 175 Dunkin' workers at the 23 plazas along Interstate 95 and other routes 15 in Connecticut.
Members of Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ, and workers from other highway rest stop businesses that SEIU is trying to unionize, showed up at Applegreen's local office at 195 Church St. on the Green to make a point.,
They said Applegreen, which now owns all the Dunkin' in the 23 service plazas, is underpaying Dunkin' employees, paying them just $14-$15 rather than the state-mandated “standard wage,” which should be at least $18.21.
The so-called standard wage basically is a bumpup of about $3 per hour for state vendors that are not on public employee contracts, to approximate the value of benefits. Because the state owns the service plazas, the union (which does not represent the Dunkin' workers) argues
that the standard wage applies. The companies say it doesn't apply because they're under contract with an outside firm, not the state.
Only the McDonald's
franchisees pay the “standard wage,” which applies to businesses on state property, union representatives said.
“They should be making at least $18.21, according to
the standard wage law,” said union spokesman Franklin Soults, who addressed the group Thursday along with Local 32BJ District Leader Neil Diaz.
“We're here today to
confront Applegreen,” said Diaz, who said the union has fought and won “battle after battle” to protect the workers at the rest stops, although “we still don't have a union” in them.
No Dunkin' workers attended the rally and the union later retracted a statement that a union member read on behalf of one worker, saying he didn't sign off on it before it was read.
The union instead introduced two longtime employees of the McDonald's restaurant in the Darien rest stop on I-95, who talked about their own battles to regain their jobs after having been laid off.
The union's plan was to attempt to bring the bag of play money upstairs to Trevor Moore in Applegreen's office, which they said was on the building's eighth floor. A building guard stopped them, however, saying there was no one in the office.
So Local 32BJ Coordinator Phil Andrews called what he said was Moore's cellphone instead. Moore did not answer. Diaz and Andrews left a message, as the other 15 or so people there listened.
Afterward, Diaz said, “We're not going to let this keep happening. So Merry Christmas to (Moore) today, but we'll be back.”
The crowd left, chanting, “We'll be back! We'll be back! We'll be back!”
Applegreen staff did not respond to requests for comment.