Employees at Stella’s Osborne restaurant vote in favour of unionizing

Employees at Stella’s Osborne restaurant location have voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

The 29 employees made up of servers, cooks, dishwashers and baristas voted in favour of joining Local 823 on Thursday.

UFCW says the Stella’s location voted yes by 86 per cent.

The change comes after a recent controversy at the popular eatery in which more than 100 complaints of bullying and sexual harassment surfaced on social media.

An internal investigation followed the allegations and resulted in the dismissal of two top executives.

“The credit for this organizing drive goes entirely to the employees at Stellas, and those who started the Not My Stellas campaign,” said Jeff Traeger, president of UFCW Local 832 in a statement.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The credit for this organizing drive goes entirely to the employees at Stellas, and those who started the Not My Stellas campaign," said Jeff Traeger, president of UFCW Local 832 in a statement.

Traeger said it takes courage to call out inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.

Stella’s has six other locations in Winnipeg. UFCW made an application at the Sherbrook Street location.

The UFCW says it will work with its new members to address long-standing issues.