The manager of the Plaza Hotel says employees of the Fireside Steakhouse and Bar were laid off, not fired, as rumours spread about the restaurant's continued closure.
(BRENDAN KERGIN / iNFOnews.ca)
February 16, 2017 - 6:30 PM
KAMLOOPS - The restaurant at the Plaza Hotel in downtown Kamloops is closed, and management isn’t saying when it’s reopening.
Manager Shata Al-Reihani says the Fireside Steakhouse and Bar on Victoria Street is normally closed for January, but plans have delayed its 2017 reopening for an uncertain amount of time, leading to layoffs.
Al-Reihani’s concerned about rumours the hotel fired 13 unionized staff members.
“We did not fire the staff,” she says. “We actually laid them off.”
She says plans to reopen the restaurant are taking longer than anticipated so management decided to lay off staff for their own good as there’s no date set for the restaurant to reopen, though that was made difficult as the staff are unionized.
“It was a very civilized departure,” she says.
Al-Reihani has no concerns trying to replace the 13 staff members when it reopens.
When asked, she offered no comment on what the plans were and wouldn't say if the restaurant would reopen for the summer tourism season or be changing names or styles, other than to say when the right time comes, the hotel will announce what’s happening.
She also says the hotel is not being sold, and there are no discussions to sell the hotel at this time, alluding to rumours it's been sold.
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