DOWNTOWN : Displaced Restaurant Staffers Get New Jobs

A union representing workers at a recently closed Japanese restaurant has negotiated an agreement with the building’s managers allowing the employees to work at a new restaurant that will open in the same space.

Workers at the Minami Restaurant, 930 Wilshire Blvd., lost their jobs when the restaurant closed June 30. Many of the 14 employees, mostly waitresses, cooks and busboys, had worked at the Japanese restaurant from six to 20 years.

The agreement, negotiated June 30 with management of the Omni Hotel, which housed the restaurant, calls for the workers to be offered jobs at the hotel and the new restaurant scheduled to open in late fall.

Negotiations for the workers’ jobs began after a demonstration outside the hotel. Also, letters were sent by union and immigrant groups to the hotel’s management. The hotel is owned by Hanjin International, which is based in Seoul, Korea.