SALT LAKE CITY — Employees at Suntrap, a long-established LGBTQ bar in downtown Salt Lake City, are in their third week of striking over their desire to unionize.
Striker Morgan Sturgill said talk of unionizing began in the summer.
“There were some scenarios where if we had discussed our wishes earlier, we could have been demoted, we could have been fired, or we could have been treated differently afterwards. So it was primarily for that protection,” Sturgill said. “But to be honest, the biggest thing is policy. A lot of us just want clear guidelines for discipline, clear employee handbooks.”
Sturgill said he met with the owners earlier this month.
“About two hours after that meeting, we all received a text message saying we had been fired. Everyone who was there, everyone who was in the meeting itself, and everyone she thought was involved,” Sturgill explained. “It was resent, so we all went back to work. But it set a precedent that we realized she might be trying to get us out of there. Then we all started getting our final reports. Most of us had never received any reports before.”
On October 3, they decided to go on strike.
“I think technically I’m still working at Suntrup, but there’s been some movement and I can’t really participate. They’ve deleted all my messaging apps, so I can’t see my schedule,” Sturgill said.
On October 10, the bar owner posted a nearly 20-minute video on Suntrup’s social media page explaining his side of the dispute.
“When the staff approached me, I hate to admit it, but they were very ignorant about the process of private unionization for small businesses. They didn’t really understand what it was or what the process was,” owner Mary Peterson said.
Mr. Peterson went on to explain why the employee was fired in the first place.
“I met with the media. I felt very, very threatened. I didn’t know if they were trying to make a hostile takeover or what was going on. So I admit I made a big mistake. Again, in an effort to keep the bar safe and thriving, I fired them because I felt they were a threat to the business,” Peterson said. “After they gave me the paperwork, I realized it wasn’t something I could do, so I had to rehire them. Legally, I had to rehire them anyway.”
Utah law states:
“It is not unlawful for employees to organize or maintain a trade union for the purpose of reducing working hours, increasing wages, improving the conditions of their membership, or carrying out the legitimate purposes of such organization as freely as if they were acting alone.”
In the video, Peterson said everything is currently being worked through her attorney, and Sturgill said she hasn’t heard from her since.
“Her lawyer contacted our union’s lawyer, and all the lawyer said was that we needed to end the strike in order to negotiate,” Sturgill said.
Peterson said Suntrap is at risk because of picketing outside her business.
“Suntrap is in immediate danger and having strikes and protests blocking my entrance and making my patrons feel unsafe coming in is very detrimental to business. Again, I’m not wealthy. My profit margins aren’t great. I can’t stand this for more than two more weeks,” Peterson said.
FOX 13 News attempted to contact Peterson several times for updated comment but did not receive a response.
Sturgill said while the workers all enjoy the community Suntrap brings, they just want to fight for stricter policies and more accountability. Until then, they won’t make a move.
“We’re going to continue to strike until our demands, our basic demands are met. Then I hope that we can actually go to the bargaining table and actually negotiate. It’s not like, ‘OK, we need to do all of this this way.'” It’s going to be a discussion with the owners of, “How can we improve?” How can we collaborate? ” Sturgill said.
They will continue to picket every Friday and Saturday night from 10:30pm to 1am.
