Five employees at Ben’s Kosher Deli in Greenvale, who had participated in the Feb. 16 nationwide Day Without Immigrants protest, declined an offer last Wednesday to return to their jobs.
“I’m surprised that those five workers didn’t come back,” said Ronnie Dragoon, the owner of the restaurant chain. “They sacrificed a lot.”
The workers’ decision follows the termination of three employees at the Greenvale store days after the three participated in the protest.
The company has said the firings were not a direct result of the political action taken by its workers, but statements from the workers and the restaurant chain’s owner, Ronnie Dragoon, have called the assertion into question.
Dragoon said he terminated one of the employees for physically threatening coworkers unwilling to participate in the protest, which the terminated employee has denied.
The other two employees were fired because their seasonal tenure with the company was nearing its end, Dragoon said.
He later suggested the two seasonal workers may not have been let go at that time had they not participated in the protest.
Blank Slate Media has chosen to withhold the names of the three terminated employees due to their immigration status.
On Feb. 24, Dragoon said he was willing to invite back the terminated employees but in a subsequent interview on March 2 he said he would not permit them to return.
Dragoon said one of the five employees who declined the offer to return was “short term,” while the other four were “longterm.”
Ben’s Kosher Deli provides its employees with a benefits package that includes two to four weeks of vacation per year, eight holidays, sick days and bereavement pay, among other benefits, Dragoon said.
“Maybe they think, because they worked for me so many years, every corner deli has this kind of benefit programs,” he said. “But I guess they’ll find out.”
In all, 21 of the 43 employees at the Greenvale restaurant and deli chose not to work on account of the Feb. 16 protest, said Vanessa Bishop, an account executive with the firm Public Relations and Marketing Group that represents Ben’s Kosher Deli.
Dragoon said 12 of the employees who protested have since returned to their jobs at the restaurant.
In late February, the deli sent a letter to all outstanding employees saying they could resume their jobs without penalty. They were given the opportunity to respond as late as March 1.
Ben’s has additional delis in Carle Place, Woodbury and Bayside as well as Boca Raton, Florida.
