Employees from the Rainforest Cafe are speaking candidly about allegations of sexual harassment at the popular Niagara Falls restaurant.
In a video released by Workers United Canada Council, an unidentified woman details her experience with a former employee accused of touching her back and buttocks.
"There's a lot of us working there, small kitchen, you can bump into someone accidentally. And the first three times he did it to me, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, I wasn't going to say anything. But it happened six times in three hours."
Multiple women have come forward with similar complaints.
Shawn Watson also speaks in the video, claiming he spoke to management as well. "I said, 'There's girls downstairs that don't want to work with the assailant. They were sexually harassed, and why is he still working at this time. The reason I was told - they're like, 'Okay. You brought it to our attention, he was written up and sent home that day, and it's been taken care of. You are not supposed to talk about it anywhere else. I don't want him feeling uncomfortable downstairs.' And I'm like, 'You don't want to assailant feeling uncomfortable? You're keeping a liability on this property, and you're letting him come back? I just don't understand it.'"
Representatives for the company that owns the destination, Canadian Niagara Hotels, have put out a statement saying apologies were issued to the women and although the man was originally only warned, he was eventually fired.
Workers have been walking the picket line since early this month, demanding a union contract and more protections against sexual harassment.