Eatery workers protest Cuomo
New York’s restaurant industry is facing death by a thousand bureaucratic cuts, but it’s not going down without a fight.
Hundreds of restaurant owners, workers and industry leaders held a rally in Times Square Tuesday morning to protest Gov. Cuomo’s recent shutdown of indoor dining and demand a bailout that will save their livelihoods.
“Save our restaurants! Save our jobs!” protesters chanted at Father Duffy Square before marching across town to Cuomo’s Midtown East office, where they blocked traffic.
“The situation continues to get more and more dire, and the shutting down of indoor dining during the holidays, when New York City restaurants are providing the safety measures, is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Jeffrey Garcia, president of the New York State Latino Restaurant Bar and Lounge Association (NYSRBLA), told the crowd. “We need action immediately.”
The protest came a day after Big Apple eateries were forced to suspend indoor dining even though the state’s own contact tracing data shows restaurants and bars account for a mere 1.43 percent of recent known COVID-19 exposures.
Cuomo has been quick to point to outdoor dining as a panacea for the flailing industry, but with temps continuing to dip below freezing — and a snowstorm that’ll close such dining Wednesday — restaurant owners say it’s not enough.
“We were so hopeful when indoor dining was allowed again to try to keep it afloat,” said Sandra Jaques, the owner of Inwood’s Il Sole restaurant, who had to fire nearly two dozen employees amid the pandemic. “But now that we’re unable to pay rent due to the shutdown, I’m afraid that I’m going to lose everything altogether.”
Jaques’ story mirrors a troubling trend seen in the majority of Big Apple eateries. A report from the New York State Restaurant Association found two-thirds of establishments said they are likely to close by the end of the year without a comprehensive relief package specifically for the industry, the NYSRBLA said in a news release.
A survey by the NYC Hospitality Alliance found nearly 87 percent of businesses couldn’t pay their full rent in August and 88 percent had to stiff their landlords in October — even with outdoor dining in full swing and indoor dining at 25 percent capacity. Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the alliance, said at least 210,000 jobs were lost when restaurants were originally forced to shutter back in March and the gains the industry has made since will soon be erased with the shutdown of indoor dining.
“Thankfully, due to limited indoor dining, outdoor dining, we’ve hired back about 100,000 people,” Rigie said. “But guess what: There’s tons of people still out of work, and with our new shutdown, those 100,000 jobs could be back on the chopping block.”
Susana Osorio, owner of the Mamasushi and Mamajuana Cafe franchises, said Cuomo’s shutdown will make for a bleak holiday for her struggling workers.
“My employees don’t have a job two weeks before Christmas,” she said. “It breaks my heart.”