SALT LAKE CITY — Lead bartender Natalie Jankowski showed up to picket outside the SunTrapp Friday night when she noticed something strange.
“We noticed that the open sign was off. We noticed that the door was locked and there was a zip tie around the handle,” she said.
Marketing and events director Yara Al-badri was next door when people started asking questions.
“They were like, 'Hey, is the SunTrapp closed? Is the SunTrapp closed? Like, did you see the tarp?' And I'm like, 'No, SunTrapp is not closed. I don't know what you're talking about,'" she said. "Someone approached me with the post on their Instagram, and that was shocking. I mean, I did get emotional, and it's just, it's deeply disappointing."
NORTHERN UTAH
LGBTQ bar in SLC enters third week of strike amid unionization disagreement
“We had no heads up, no warning, no nothing. It was really unfortunate. A lot of the staff that rolled up got kind of emotional. It was hard,” Jankowski said.
The SunTrapp posted on social media: “The financial impact of consistent protests has made it impossible for us to remain open,” and added that it would close on Halloween.
“The lack of concern from ownership towards our strike demands is what has pushed us to keep picketing. So, the loss of income for the bar is strictly due to ownership's lack of engagement with us on our strike demands,” Jankowski said.
The statement added that because of the government shutdown, the National Labor Relations Board is closed and the election process with the union was stopped.
The election gives eligible employees the ability to vote whether or not they want to be represented by a union, supervised by the NLRB.
"Unfortunately, the government shutdown happened only a few days after we went public, and at that point, we had already filed for an election right before they shut down, and they were working on scheduling us a date for the NLRB agent assigned to our case to come out and host the election. But that has been put to a complete halt,” Jankowski said.
It is still unclear, however, whether the bar will be closing indefinitely or just until the government reopens.
“I had heard through the grapevine that it was said that it's just going to be closed for the night, but now I'm hearing it's not that. So, I mean, we're just as lost as anyone else,” Al-badri said.
“Hopefully, when the government does reopen, and she hopefully reopens, we can continue on with our election process,” Jankowski said.
The SunTrapp was unable to go on camera, but when asked for clarification, they responded, “We are not certain what the path forward looks like.”
The community and staff are concerned about one of the last remaining LGBTQ safe spaces closing its doors.
“It's definitely somber, but the reaction I got from the community I was surrounded with or surrounded by yesterday was: 'This hurts.' It's upsetting, it's confusing, but we stand with the workers no matter what,” Al-badri said "It's just, it's scary.”
“Most of the staff spent their days off hanging out and congregating there. We would never want to lose that, and we're devastated that that is not available to the broader queer community right now,” Jankowski said.
In the meantime, Jankowski wants to keep fighting for the place she called her second home.
“The bar closing is not what we wanted. We don't want to take over the bar. We don't want to make her pay a bunch of money and union fees and health insurance fees, and we sure as hell want to see this space survive,” she said.
The SunTrapp said an updated statement is expected to be released sometime next week.
The full latest statements can be found on the Instagram pages for the bar and the organizers:
