{"id":267540,"date":"2021-06-05T19:27:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-05T16:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/labor-shortage-forces-nyc-bars-to-keep-limited-pandemic-hours\/"},"modified":"2021-06-05T19:27:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-05T16:27:23","slug":"labor-shortage-forces-nyc-bars-to-keep-limited-pandemic-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/labor-shortage-forces-nyc-bars-to-keep-limited-pandemic-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"#Labor shortage forces NYC bars to keep limited pandemic hours"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Labor shortage forces NYC bars to keep limited pandemic hours<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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The historic Neir\u2019s Tavern in Queens wants to fully reopen, but it\u2019s stuck at pandemic hours. COVID-19, however, is not the culprit this time.<\/p>\n

Same with Havana Central in Manhattan and other eateries around the city.<\/p>\n

Instead, a lack of staffing is to blame, and business owners are pointing fingers at bloated federal unemployment checks.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnemployment is for people who can\u2019t find a job, correct?\u201d Loycent Gordon, of Neir\u2019s Tavern, asked The Post. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole industry that\u2019s dying for employees! \u2026 Have we gone crazy here?\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the latest federal stimulus plan, state unemployment checks are boosted by $300 per week until Labor Day. That\u2019s on top of New York unemployment, which maxes out at $504 per week.<\/p>\n

Gordon is on the hunt for a restaurant manager, shift manager and bartender, which would allow him to resume his pre-pandemic hours of about 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Currently, he\u2019s open from 2 to 11 p.m.<\/p>\n

Neir\u2019s, which has been in nearly continuous operation since 1829, claims to be the oldest bar in New York City. If you\u2019ve seen \u201cGoodfellas,\u201d you\u2019ve seen the bar on the silver screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough things are, we\u2019ll call it, opening up, we still have COVID business\u00a0hours. Not because of COVID rules, but because of labor shortage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Loycent
Loycent Gordon, of Neir\u2019s Tavern, is looking for a restaurant manager, shift manager and bartender.<\/figcaption>
Stefano Giovannini<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Loyden said the extra $300 weekly in unemployment benefits provided by the federal government is \u201cof course\u201d the cause of the service industry\u2019s present hiring difficulties.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot saying it\u2019s the only thing,\u201d he added, noting that some workers went into other industries and some left New York state.<\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, Gordon said he employed 10 or 12 people, but about six or seven fled the state since March 2020.<\/p>\n

Even when he was able to set up interviews with prospective employees in the past few weeks, he\u2019s had multiple no-shows. \u201cWe might start giving a free burger when you interview,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Jeremy
Jeremy Merrin, owner of Havana Central, at his Times Square location.<\/figcaption>
Annie Wermiel\/NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jeremy Merrin, owner of Havana Central, a Cuban bar and restaurant with locations in Midtown, Garden City, and Edison, N.J., said his operation is \u201chaving incredible issues rehiring staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

His Times Square location needs about 12 more workers to \u201cgo to pre-COVID levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, he\u2019s opening later and closing earlier. He\u2019s also had to close off sections of the large 46th Street space due to a lack of servers. And during peak periods, he\u2019s had to stop taking lower-margin Uber Eats and DoorDash orders, due to a lack of cooks.<\/p>\n

\u201cSales right now are still at 50 percent of pre-COVID levels,\u201d he said. He\u2019s hoping summer and the return of Broadway shows will juice his Times-Square top line.<\/p>\n

\"Neir's
Neir\u2019s Tavern is having a hard time finding staff for the new extended hours of operation. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Merrin, like Gordon, attributes the difficulty in hiring to former service-industry workers seeking jobs in other fields, the $300 unemployment boost, and a lack of immigrant workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur entire industry is driven by immigration,\u201d said Merrin, who estimates 70 percent of his staff are immigrants. Illegal immigrants, while not technically eligible for regular unemployment insurance, can receive up to $15,600<\/a> from a $2.1 billion fund established by New York state.<\/p>\n

Irene O\u2019Halloran, operations manager of New York City Restaurant Group, which runs Arte Cafe, says, \u201cNobody wants to work. It\u2019s been very difficult to find new people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people want to be paid off the books,\u201d in order to both net tax-free cash and draw unemployment, she said. \u201cObviously we can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jeremy
Jeremy Merrin attributes the difficulty in hiring to a lack of immigrant workers.<\/figcaption>
Annie Wermiel\/NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

O\u2019Halloran said that while her veteran employees are loyal, she\u2019s given up interviewing for new hires \u2014 at least until after Labor Day, when the pandemic unemployment supplement is set to expire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey probably think, \u2018I\u2019m getting paid decent and I can have the summer off,’\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve actually heard people getting paid better on unemployment than when they were working.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Labor shortage forces NYC bars to keep limited pandemic hours” The historic Neir\u2019s Tavern in Queens wants to fully reopen, but it\u2019s stuck at pandemic hours. COVID-19, however, is not the culprit this time. Same with Havana Central in Manhattan and other eateries around the city. Instead, a lack of staffing is to blame, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":267541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/agustin-bautista-neirs-tavern-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[108407,71155,70344,5069,22512,70840],"class_list":["post-267540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-6-5-21","tag-bars","tag-coronavirus-in-ny","tag-economy","tag-restaurants","tag-unemployment-benefits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}