A Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant near Pennsylvania State University was closed down on Wednesdays after employees resigned their positions and put up a sign outside the shop saying they had been subject to poor working conditions. After a few hours, the restaurant was opened back again - just in time for dinner.
The sign, which was also posted on Twitter, told consumers to "ask our corporate offices why their employees are forced to work in borderline sweatshop conditions", also proposing the hashtags #Chipotle and #ChipotleSwag to raise awareness of the work conditions of the staff via social media. It also said that most of the workers had already quit, which is why the restaurant was closing, at least for the day.
Chris Arnold, a spokesperson for Chipotle, said that the Penn State restaurant was closed after "few employees quit" and locked the rest of the staff out, people who were happy with their job and were therefore held from going to work on Wednesday.
On the other hand, former manager of the restaurant Brian Healy told the student-run news site Onward State that the restaurant had been understaffed for a while, forcing workers into 10 to 12-hour shifts with no breaks allowed. He also added that he wasn't trying to get the Chipotle corporation to bankrupt, just wanted to "see people treated better."
This is not the first issue that has come up from the Mexican food chain; in the past, Chipotle has been criticized for paying its co-CEO's a combined $40.5 million in 2013. Also, there was a referendum on the annual restaurant meeting last May where 77 percent of workers opposed the current compensation terms.
Fast-food chains have been under siege lately as a wave of protests have come about from workers of the industry, demanding unionization and better wages. Steve Ells, Chipotle's co-CEO, has said that the starting wage at the restaurants is $8.50 to $9.50 an hour, so $1.25 to $2.25 over national minimum wage.
