Wage Theft, Oppression on Capital Grille Menu

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Patrons of the Capital Grille were surprised last week to find that oppression was on the menu at the Friendship Heights restaurant. Chanting “restaurant workers work all day, Capital Grille you must pay,” as rain fell steadily, members of Occupy DC joined the DC Restaurant Opportunity Center (ROC-DC) last Wednesday for a rally outside the Capital Grille. The protest was one of many weekly rallies ROC-DC has held as part of a nation-wide campaign against the Darden Corporation, which owns the Capital Grille. ROC-DC says the local Capital Grille has shown some of the worst and most abusive policies of the entire Darden Corporation, including wage theft and segregating people of color by forcing them to work in the “back of the house.” Demonstrators told restaurant patrons they were “eating on the table of oppression.” ROC-DC plans to continue holding rallies at the Capital Grille, demanding that Darden compensate workers for stolen wages and halt their discriminatory employment practices. - report by Ben Johnson; photo courtesy of @fightbackradio