Amato's Pizza Sees Worker Backlash

People who write blogs on sites such as these generally feel responsible for making the public aware of various local issues, whether negative or positive. As a result, I'm absolutely appalled at how little research you must have done prior to writing this blog. First of all, I was at the protest on Sunday during which you must have taken the above posted photo. I do not recall seeing you speaking to the employee in question once. I've since confirmed this with her. In fact, you did not ask her for details, but merely read a brief summary on a flyer prepared by the worker's action centre. I can say without fear of contradiction that there are several former (and likely current) Amato employees that are owed large sums of money by management. I've personally met three through the worker's action centre protests. You likely could have discovered this quite easily on your own had you bothered asking.
Also, your article seems to suggest that Amato is somehow justfied in not paying the employee in question simply because a large amount of the money owed is severance. In Canada, if fired, you're entitled to severance pay. Its a basic right - and one which I can only assume you'd demand for yourself. Again, something you could have found out had you googled canadian worker rights.
The employee in question is not 'picketing until she sees the promised cheques'. She's picketing until she's given certified cheques/cash, because most of the cheques she's received from Amato have bounced (I've had several other employees, both current and former, confirm that many of their cheques bounce as well). So, not only is she not receiving payment, her credit has suffered due to Amato's negligence.
Whereas the owner was pleasant on the phone with you, you clearly were not present during past protests in which one of the owners was violent (verbally AND physically) with several women! (this includes a protest outside the St. Clair location where the manager came outside and smacked a handful of flyers out of the hand of a pregnant woman - Amato customers were so appalled they immediately left and gave the woman their phone numbers in order to testify as witnesses should she choose to press charges). The police have been called in on several occasions, both on college st and queen st, due to one particular owner's actions.

Now, imagine you worked at a job for six years, didn't receive pay for the last two and a half months, and were then fired for no apparent reason. Imagine your basic rights as a Canadian worker were being denied, and you had no reason to believe that you were going to be compensated anytime in the near future. A friendly phone manneurism on the part of the person who so brutally denied you of your rights really wouldn't make you feel better about it. I'm glad that the owner was kind to you on the phone - that really doesn't justify unpaid labour.

I've come to know the employee in question quite well over the past few months as a result of attending the protests organized by the worker's action centre. Having spoken to her on the phone, I can assure you she's pleasant to speak with as well. Maybe this will help ignorant writers respect her should she ever choose to break the law.

Glad you were impressed, though.

Perhaps the most appalling comment in your close-minded, nonsensical article is the following:
'Question now though... Slick President or psychotic employee? Neither? Both? We'll probably stay out of it. ;)'

Ignoring the problem doesn't mean that there isn't one. If you're going to publicize your opinion, don't sit on the fence. Get off your ass, do some more research, grow a spine and make a decision. Being ignorant privately is one thing - publicizing your sloth and stupidity is really just harmful.

my roomate worked at amato for 4 months. they had major problems with cheques bouncing so they started giving him cash. within a month or two it became harder to get the cash...soon he quit after chasing the owners for $. he is still owed $800. he just gave up and im sure there are alot out there who have been in the same position.

its simple. don't like it, don't read it. stop being a jerk.

Ella,

Maybe next time 'said worker' could take the time to post more meaningful information on the clever 'pizza' flyers being handed out at the protest.

I called Giuseppe personally, a bit angry at first, to inform him that from the details I received from this flyer I was no longer supporting Amatos.

Surprised I even reached him (and not his voicemail), he asked for a minute of my time to explain his side, at which point I agreed with him that what took place with the former employee was a horrible situation, but that it was in the midst of being resolved and had come to a resolution.

In the end? I took the information given, and the information received on the phone, and came to the resolution that both sides lose out - and I will still go to Amatos.

Don't go on an ignorant rant when it was the mistake of those who created the flyers to provide access to someone (Giuseppe) who can provide a countervoice.

Did he lie to us? Is the former employer lying to us? Are you lying to us? There is not enough information - so next time, why don't you provide a bit more insight instead of going on an angry rant about how she only "read a brief summary on a flyer".

Maybe next time the "workers action centre" should help to make a more useful flyer that provides contact numbers to the employees - not 50% brief summary and 50% executive phone numbers.

What did the former Amatos employee expect us to do? Phone Guiseppe, tell him to "fuck off" and hang up? Please. Get a grip, Ella.

Yeah, if i need a $2.69 pizza I'll spend it... and I'll leave a tip as usual.

He was straight up with what happened, apologetic and said it had already been dealt with legally and that she was going to be paid. I appreciate the guy actually talking to us (2 random people on the street) and hearing our complaints about what was happening to the workers.

Whether he's earnest or a smooth talker is up in the air.

In the end, even if don't take either side, this is still <i>hardly</i> an instance of good press.

Perplexed - these are definitely not questions any of us can really address to any useful degree. If you want to get some answers from the source, go for it:

President, Giuseppe Colantonio - 416-708-5049
Treasurer, Walter Cerneka - 647-222-2227

This info provided on the "flyer" protesters were handing out.

By all means, report back too!

It's unreal that I managed to stumble on this.

The Amato owners are a bunch of world-class crooks. A friend of mine worked at Amato at Queen and John. When Amato interviewed her, they told her she'll get $7.45 minimum wage. After she started working there, they told her that cashiers make $6. My friend was a recent refugee so she didn't know better.

You know what? And they never paid her a cent. She got fired for no reason after few months and they owed her like 2000 bucks. She kept calling and calling and the Amato guy'd smooth talk her into believing how they will pay her tomorrow or next week or whatever.

I am glad someone is finally standing up to those crooks.

Now, we are getting the real story here... It <i>really</i> interesting to see the posts come in about this company.

Thanks Erica/Ella for posting again. I look forward (though it's unfortunate) to seeing who else comes forward. Try not to be so cynical and judgemental about my intentions with a post. A forum has been created for you to tell your story. It's a good thing.. and the point of online media like this.

This is the way all stories should be told... community reporting. Not one opinion being fed, but dozens coming together.

I attend these protests to show my support. Besides the fact that this business owes this ex-worker all this money (which he admitted to), I personally think this protest is very important because it gets the message across that employers cannot get away with doing this to their workers. Do you know how many people have walked by me and told me how the same thing is happening/happened to them at their work and how glad they are that FINALLY someone is doing this? And I am not talking about people who use to work at Amato either. This is getting the message across to employers that this is not right and there is going to be a cost to breaking the law and and fucking over people's rights. I know there are people who do not want to support these kinds of businesses and would like to know that it is going on.


Anyway Tanja, I remember seeing you there just taking pictures. I really do not understand why you didn't take the time to speak to ANY of us since you were right there to get HER side of the story. Unless you just read those "clever pizza sliced pamphlets" and thought that's all you needed to hear from us. A lot of people who read the flyers that we hand out still take the time to come over and talk to us about it and ask questions, which would have been a good thing to do on your part. Instead, you chose to not do that and just call the president and get his side of the story and mention that "He tell us the whole tangled story..." while the the ex-worker "insists that she's not the only one owed wages"?.


How can you say "Question now though... Slick President or psychotic employee"? He's slick because he was nice to you on the phone? He admitted to owing the employee this money and it shouldn't be taking MONTHS for her to get some money at least. Because this money is entitled to her and she's letting people know what is going on and besides all the stress it's causing her, that might make her psychotic? Are you kidding me?

After reading your article, it really seems like you were/are taking sides and that's what's upsetting me. We weren't asking you to come out cheering for our fight, just that you should have talked to someone first on the other side and not just post one side of the story for all the public to see.

I see that Tanja didn't actually call the girl a "psycho" but I can see how someone can offended by that.

I am just thinking about how frustrating it must be for a person to be literally treated as a slave and when she fights for her rights, she get branded as a psycho by a passerby.

I don't think tanja meant anything too mean by it though. The real villian is Amato! :)~

You guys are missing a very crucial point that Tanja is bringing up. I know your battle must be frustrating - I can't even imagine how long you've been protesting for - but there is a point to all this.

'Worker' handed us a flyer, amidst the screams of 'anti-Amatos' rhetoric coming from the storefront on Queen West. Most people would throw this flyer out, and disregard the whole protest as there are so many protests happening all the time it's become commonplace.

You caught our eyes. You made a clever handout, in the shape of a pizza - it's sad that the shape of said flyer made it more interesting to read, but I'm being honest here. Half of the flyer involved the details of what you were protesting about, half of it had - in large font - the executive phone numbers to the 'suits' at Amatos.

You had our attention - you told us your story, we had somewhere to go and couldn't stop to talk - but we took the time to read what you gave us on our way to where we were going. We took the time to read your flyer.

We also took the time to call up Giuseppe and voice our concerns - as we had heard a bit of your side, and it was enough to get us to call him in outrage - I started the phone call with "I was about to go buy a pizza at your Queen West store but decided not to due to the protest". As you know, he went on to explain that 'worker' was a nuisance, has been doing this for a while even though the issue was resolved, and that she was getting her money.

Why would you hand out a flyer with contact information to someone who is notoriously a liar, and a smooth talker? Which makes me think said 'worker' just wants us to bitch out the guy and hang up without listening to him.

Obviously from the stories I've heard coming out of this discussion I've come to a much different conclusion - but don't berate those who took the time to read the literature you created, and were handing out, and even utilized to help your fight.

I say this honestly - good luck to all those involved in this battle, and I hope you get back what you rightly deserve.

In the meantime - if you want people to stop and talk to you, then do so - stop us and talk to us. If you want us to read about your plight, create a new flyer that won't cause the confusion that was the catalyst for this post in the first place.

If anything, your story is getting more exposure, and definitely more clearer.

its called a blog. stop reading it if you hate it so much. you workers sound like you're angled. there seems to be no way that you can be wrong. BIASED. so stop telling people about being angled when you're just trying to push them the other direction.

erica,

You're still missing the massive point that the flyer these girls were handing out is creating more of a problem than a solution - the reason for all these posts in the first place.

It's glaringly obviously from the amount of negative posts against this place that something very shady is going on (and has been going on for a while now), which also makes me wonder why some would stick around working there for a year or more if they're not one of the "exploited kurdish refugees".

That's beside the point - the flyer was the catalyst for all this, and is obviously not working properly. Things need to change if the proper message needs to get out there.

greg - not two and half years, hunny, two and a half months. if you're gonna call people idiots, at least try and pretend you know what you're talking about, k?

A grand total of -one- picture from someone who is a photoblogger on the side (thus the good picture).

Yelling to passerbys isn't condusive to having a normal conversation. If your main action is to hand out flyers, you should have done a better job in creating a more detailed flyer instead of one that has the obvious purpose to harass owners/executives (which seems the case considering how disappointed everyone is that we happened to believe Giuseppe's initial comments to us over the phone).

Go back to the "worker's action centre" and get them to help you with something new to hand out if you're going to continue your protests with flyers.

Tell the whole story in the flyer (not 'merely' a brief summary) and don't give out phone numbers to executives who are experienced in "harbouring slaves, lying, and witholding large sums of money from employees".

The flyer was the catalyst for this post. The flyer was handed to us by protestors/'worker'. The flyer is inconcise.

for real paul, take it down a notch
nobody is being accused of anything here i think you were doing fine explaining your piece a couple entries ago and should have left it at that
a flyer handed to people is ya, maybe going to be thrown away and honestly, the more brief the more likely people are to actually read the whole thing
the number being posted is from what i can tell the workers attempt to say hey, if you want more details, call them yourself and ask why she hasnt been paid yet
from attending previous protests myself i can say, if people actually care enough to read it, they really do care enough to walk back or turn around and ask someone for more details rather than merely grabbing a flyer, snapping a few photo than walking away only to get so defensive when asked why you didnt take the time to also talk to the worker!
take it easy tough guy!

Workers - my advice to you would be to beef up this flyer with a little more anti-Amato meat. I can't help but notice that all Tanja did was read it and follow your instructions - just as you spelled it out on pizza paper. Sure, cute idea - but maybe you should think about the contents and what might actually happen if all of your "passer-byers" called those numbers.



As for the president or whoever being "slick" - OF COURSE THEY ARE! I don't think Tanja meant anything all that GOOD by calling him that. I understood him being "slick" as being able to get away with murder in such a calm and polite way. Does it mean he was right? NO! Does it mean that he might manage to keep some of his customers? OF COURSE! If he knew that all of the workers and anti-Amato-ers were calling him, I'm sure he would tell them where to go. Like one of you said, there is definitely a Jekyll/Hyde attitude towards customers/workers.



I think poor Tanja's post has been blown out of proportion and, to tell you the truth, you're lucky she posted it in the first place. I, for one, had never heard about this until now. It definitely got you some good exposure as I'm only one of the many of us who will now probably stop giving these guys my money.

"owed $8,000 in wages"
"he is still owed $800"
"they owed her like 2000 bucks"

Doesn't common sense dictate that if you aren't being paid, quit or stop working until you are being paid?

I find it hard to feel compassion for idiots who stay at a job that isn't paying them for months and months, and then bitching about it.

Wouldn't you start taking action after, oh I don't know, the first or second paycheque bounced?

Nate, why are you blaming the victim?

go to china. i'm sure its better. or the US. try that. MUST be better there...

Nate isn't blaming the victim. He's just pointing out their stupidity. No matter what anyone says, the employee should have quit a long time ago. Finding another minimum wage paying job isn't hard. The time and energy spent protesting far exceeds what it would cost to switch over.

Now you're all going to cuss about how thats not solving the problem. Well here's some news: this has been going on for centuries. There's no stopping it. So suck it up and move on.

ed, love how you cut up the commenters for making ignorant statements and then you end your own post with the exact same.

Well Travis what do you say when someone posts an item and the only view they have of the situation is from half-reading a leaflet...never stops and talks to the protestors or asks questions of them...and then pretty much does a full-blown interview with the other side...and that's setting aside the unequal power relationship between employee and employer.

Journalism is one thing it definitely ain't!

As for "someguyinto", I can't believe his incredibly twisted logic. He has insulted the entire Italian community IMHO.

The 'leaflet' wasn't half-read.

It was fully read from top to bottom. Not only that, Ed, but we took things even further by calling a number on the 'leaflet' to voice our anger over the treatment of the worker.

The rest is history. Although, your research skills could use some fine-tuning as you somehow assumed the leaflet was only "half-read", and then spun our angered, two-minute phone call to the president of Amatos as "a full-blown interview". Do you write for the Toronto Sun?

It took roughly two minutes to talk to the president, and two minutes to read the leaflet - pretty much equal time. Unfortunately, the 'smooth talking president' was a bit more convincing than the shouting girls handing out leaflets.

Which is why I've mentioned a couple dozen times in this comment thread that those protesting should change their tactic and hand their own phone numbers out if they want to talk more, as opposed to someone who has notoriously lied to a slew of people.

Alas, this whole ordeal has been blown out of proportion some time ago.

Many of the people leaving comments seem quite hostile towards the worker despite the fact that they're not the least bit involved in the situation. Whereas I'm sure that constructive criticism is appreciated, name-calling is not. Moreover, its juvenile. Seriously - grow up.
Second of all, many people seem hung-up on the idea that the worker should have quit when first told that she wasn't going to be paid for the first time. Having been in the same situation, and having heard both sides of this particular story, I'm quite appalled that people are calling the worker 'idiot' and other such juvenile terms. She worked there for SIX YEARS. Even someone like Paul L., who seems to be quite hung up on the distributed flyer, will agree that that information was published on the pamphlet. After six years, one grows a certain loyalty to a company (at least, any one with a conscience does), so when you're told that you're not going to be paid until next month because the company is lacking funds, it really doesn't seem like too big of a deal to be understanding. Unfortunately, her loyalty and compassion towards the owners was neglected, and she ended up getting completely screwed over in the end.
THEY LIED. That's all there is to it.

If you still feel comfortable purchasing goods from such a crooked place, thats your choice. I find it to be unacceptable, and think that many people on this site are trying to justify eating there by lashing out at the worker. Not only is that juvenile, but its also ignorant.

If the worker is reading this, don't worry too much about these comments. Some of the posters, like nodnarb, post all over this site, and all of their comments are hateful and juvenile. I guess this site has become an outlet for people with pent-up aggression.

Dear Ed, I really hate to repeat myself, but I'll do one one last time despite your constant going on about journalism class and my supposed career goals.

If you read the posting or any of the following comments you will realize that in fact:

1 - We didn't buy amatos. We just decided we wouldn't boycott as we weren't convinced.

2 - slick vs psychotic, as already discussed, was a comparison about how each side was coming across via each others stories. The employees vs the boss, making him appear like a slick talker. The owner vs the employees, making them out to be totally out of control and unjustified. That being his skew, not mine. I have no ground to call them psychotic and wouldn't dream of it. but alas, misreading is where this ridiculous string got started.

Mind the context. Over and out.

Well, seeing as you obviously have no interest in the actual situation. I'll just leave you be to assume based on your personal opinions instead of the facts. Enjoy.

To everyone who disagrees with me:
SCREW OFF, and stop picking on Tanja.

A thesaurus is also a useful tool. After reading these posts, the word juvenile is used like "lol" in a chat room. Suck it up. If you don't like what you see, don't read it. And if you decided to read it, stop bitching.

Oh and for you all working in "non-profit organizations in downtown Toronto": you wouldn't have to exist if workers weren't idiots. See, if the workers knew their rights, they would know they deserve to be paid. On time. And if they don't, they should a) file a suit or b) quit. it is THEIR FAULT if they decide to trust their employer. No one would have to pretend to feel sorry for them or pretend to have worked at non-profit organiztions just to make it look like they are important. Well guess what, you are not in any way involved in this either.

Oh and as a side note. No ELISE, I have never posted anywhere on this site. Except here. And the only reason I did was to knock some sense into everyone who thinks like you.

There he goes again... raving and blaming the victim.

Quite simply:
I am no longer eating at Amato's.
I have been a customer for at least 8 years. I hope the owner is reading this.

I'll post it for all to see.

alvare3@hotmail.com

Wow, so I'm not the only one!!

I started working at amatos part time in July and the same thing happened to me. I was being paid by cheque and the other employees warned me about the cheques bouncing all the time. It didn't happen to me until the cheque run September 2nd.

My $252.07 cheque bounced almost causing my mortgage to bounce (luckily I saw the bounced cheque in time and transferred funds). When I approached my boss he told me he would have to check with head office before they would issue me any money, even though I brought in my bank statement with the words "NSF Amatos no funds available".

I quit on the spot, because my boss had such a calm attitude and made the whole thing even seem like my fault and he did not once say I'm sorry. I got my money the next day AFTER I THREATENED TO CALL THE LABOUR BOARD and have just collected in cash the last of the money they owed me.

I can tell you that lately I've been being paid in cash (at a lower rate), something that I know is illegal and the latest incident is that since the bounced cheques last pay periond (there were about 4 of us), there are signes all over saying debit machine not working, cash only. I dont know about you but as working as a restarurant manager for the last 7 years (The amato's gig was just quick cash), you make a phone call credit card machines are fixed within hours not weeks.

FOR ALL YOU EMPLOYEES THAT ARE STILL AT AMATO'S BEWARE----GET YOUR MONEY AND QUIT WHILE YOU CAN. ALL OF OUR TIME IS TOO VALUABLE TO WORK FOR NOTHING. NOT TO MENTION ITS ILLEGAL. ANY COMPANY WITH THIS MUCH OF A CASH FLOW PROBLEM WONT BE AROUND FOR LONG.

At this point, I really don't think adding petty insult to injury is in any way useful, Nate.

If this thread is going to turn to pathetic name calling (from either side of the argument), I'm prepared to just shut it down.

Hi Tanja,
I think your suggestion of shutting down after Nate's comments is actually quite a good idea.
I worked for Amato for 6 months. Despite Nate's suggestion that anyone who receives a bounced cheque is somehow an uneducated moron who 'got high during high school', I needed the funds to pay rent while my academic scholarship covered my tuition (that's right nate, i'm on academic scholarship - several in fact. why? cause i've averaged 90s and over since grade 10 - i'm in third year university now). I worked at Amato to pay rent. My cheques bounced. Such is life. They lied, and the employees were victimized as a result of those lies.
I happen to know that the worker who's been organizing the protests was executive assistant to the CEO. She's currently studying to be a chartered accountant. She's quite young, and she's absolutely brilliant. So much in fact, that she doesn't feel it necessary to call people names while hiding behind a computer screen. She's doing something about it. SHe's not letting herself be victimized.
These people are not stupid. They are not uneducated, and they are certainly not idiots. They were simply showed understanding and compassion to a lying group of owners.

By the way, next time you decide to call people idiots, try not to use phrases like 'Perhaps you should try to educate your mind and become informed. It's not my fault that you pissed away for school years getting drunk and high and skipping class'.

I mean really - review the grammar in that paragraph. Its awful!!!

How ironic.

After deleting a string of defamatory and racist postings from Nate, this comment thread has been closed.