'Gorilla' warfare as entire staff quits Fifth Ave coffee bar

http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2010/04/12/brooklyn/courier-yn_brooklyn_front_page-ps_gorillawalkout_2010_04_16_bk.txt

Entire staff quits Slope coffee bar

By Kristen V. Brown
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 7:11 PM EDT

A coffee war erupted over the weekend when employees at Park Slope’s beloved Gorilla Coffee staged a walkout, leaving java lovers jonesing for a caffeine fix — and the owners scrambling to find new baristas.

On Friday, a longstanding conflict between the staff and one of the business partners came to a head when employees demanded that the partner, Carol McLaughlin, be removed from day-to-day operations at the Fifth Avenue coffee bar.

Many longstanding issues have “repeatedly been brushed aside and ignored,” the workers wrote in a missive. The result, they said, was “a perpetually malicious, hostile, and demeaning work environment” that was “unhealthy” and “unworkable.”

The workers added that the wholesale walkout was not meant as a bargaining chip. Indeed, they have no intention of returning to the coffee bar, which is at Park Place.

Since issuing their broadside, the employees have dodged all press calls.

McLaughlin and co-owner Darleen Scherer have been plotting their next move at their Sunset Park roasting facility, where they’re still cranking out beans for retailers who sell Gorilla blends. Neither would comment, but Scherer said that the pair is “still figuring everything out” and would reopen as soon as possible.

FULL story at link.