11/12/2013: Activists March on Epicurean

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More than 40 students arrived at Epicurean & Co. on Monday afternoon to present a petition with 500-plus student signatures to owner Chang Wook Chon, demanding fair treatment of Epicurean workers.

The event was organized by the Georgetown Solidarity Committee with the help of members of the Georgetown chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Hoyas for Immigrant Rights and the Georgetown University Student Association.

Chon was charged in 2010 with withholding overtime wages from workers and violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. He pled guilty in March to criminal contempt for violating a court order that was issued during a civil lawsuit.

Chon is also accused of bribing an employee who had attempted to recover back wages through the lawsuit with the promise of a promotion if he would drop the civil case.

The group presented its petition to Chon and gave cards and flowers to the restaurant’s employees.

The event was also meant to motivate the university administration, which protestors say has not been properly responsive to worker conditions on campus. Students said the university had not enforced its Just Employment Policy, which was implemented in 2005 after a group of GSC students mounted a successful hunger strike to urge the administration to raise custodial workers’ wages in a Living Wage Campaign.

In the petition, students called on Chon to make a public commitment to the Just Employment Policy, work with the university to set up accountability measures and institute Just Employment Policy training for Epicurean workers.

GUSA President Nate Tisa (SFS ’14), who represented student government at the protest, highlighted the process as an important step for more student engagement in lobbying for fair treatment of workers at the university.

“The Just Employment Policy means that workers are a part of our community and that we have the responsibility to make sure they’re being treated fairly,” Tisa said. “It’s great that students are active and caring about the community. The event went well. It sent a clear message, and I have high hopes that positive results will come out of this.”