After a handful of longtime Portland restaurants closed recently, worker support groups are stepping in to help unemployed service workers.
In a volatile industry, restaurant closures are nothing new, said Catherine Buxton with the Peer Workforce Navigator Project, a program funded by the state Department of Labor.
But she said her group has seen an uptick in restaurant workers seeking help, and wants to reach tipped employees who may not realize they're eligible for unemployment benefits.
"We sort of think of unemployment benefits as something you can only get if you have a traditional nine-to-five job," she said. "We want to make sure that folks in this industry are particularly aware of all of their different options and the resources they have to be able to not only pay their bills, but continue in their career."
Buxton said her group is also offering interpretation in French and Spanish, to help reach immigrant workers in the service industry.
