A group of former workers at Brick at Blue Star are calling for a boycott of the venue and culture hub near the river in San Antonio’s King William neighborhood.
In a Wednesday afternoon Instagram post, the one-time employees accused the space at Blue Star — which hosts local artwork along with live music and other entertainment — of withholding thousands in wages from its staff, ultimately prompting seven workers to leave.
The Current’s calls to Brick at Blue Star went unanswered Wednesday. However, Brick later released its own statement on Instagram.
In the statement, venue officials said “four of the six individuals referenced have received full payment and we are actively finalizing the remaining two balances as quickly as possible.”
The workers’ original statement alleged some Brick at Blue Star staff worked for months this summer without receiving full compensation.
“From June 2025 to September 2025, Brick at Blue Star withheld wages and failed to pay its employees thousands of dollars worth of labor from at least 8 employees. At least 6 employees are still owed an estimated total of $7,136,” the post read.
In the joint statement, the unnamed workers said that they stayed because they believed in the mission of the creative hub.
“Local art and music is more important now than ever. However, these events cannot happen without paid staff,” the post added.
“We deserve respect and that means being paid for our time and labor,” the affected workers said. “We encourage you to boycott Brick (108 Blue Star, SATX) until we’ve been paid back the $7,136.”
Contacted by the Current, Baldemar Esquivel III, a former bartender, sound tech and barista at Brick, disputed the business’ claim that it had fully compensated all but two staffers.
“They claim that they only have to pay two people left, but it’s four of us, including myself, that are owed varying amounts,” said Esquivel, who added that he’s still owed $692.13.
Esquivel said his wages began getting inconsistent on June 20.
“I started to feel like I was volunteering,” he told the Current over the phone.
The group of former employees learned that one coworker has been paid since they published their statement claiming Brick owed them $7,136. Esquivel says that number has since dropped to $6,378.
Esquivel said he would like to think Brick’s claim that four of six employees had been paid in full was an honest mistake and not a deliberate lie.
While he was still employed by Brick, Esquivel says Brick’s owner continued to tell staff that their payment would be coming, yet the dates would be pushed back.
“Looking back, it felt like a carrot being dangled in front of us,” he said. Individual staffers say they started asking each other if they had been paid, and they realized they weren’t alone. That’s when they began meeting at an offsite location and organizing as a collective.
Several people, in a shared document of media statements provided by the collective of former workers, alleged they were strung along for a while via promises of money and bonuses on the way.
“During Summer 2025 [owner] Elizabeth Ciafero didn’t pay myself and my coworkers our hourly paychecks,” former employee Nevin Fink said in a statement. Fink claims to be owed $2,252 in back wages.
“Brick’s financial struggles were nothing new to us and has been something I’ve known about since I first started working there a year ago[.]” Fink said.
“It wasn’t until around this year that things started to become odd. Elizabeth would routinely emotionally manipulate us,” Fink added. “Every staff meeting (Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m.) we could expect to see tears and empty promises, claiming grants were on the way, help from the county was on the way, and that money was soon to be filtering in.”
He added: “Eventually we realized that we were working for free and wouldn’t be seeing that money anytime soon[.]”
Another former employee, D’Von Miller, provided a statement agreeing with Fink’s claim that employees felt they were being “emotionally manipulated.”
“At one point Elizabeth Ciafero […] even promised each of us bonuses for this rough patch if we could just ‘hang on’ … Hang on meaning keep booking events, and essentially working for free,” said Miller, who was finally paid in full on Nov. 12.
“I’ve known Elizabeth for a while and it did feel like she used that to her advantage,” former houseman, bartender and AV tech Gilbert Salazar said in a media statement. “It felt as if she’d play the best friend card with a lot of us.”
“Elizabeth would be visibly stressed in front of us which made us feel some sort of [responsibility] over her emotions,” former employee Melba Sandoval said via a statement. “We felt we needed to take care of her feelings and the state of the business. The hourly employees are all in our 20s, we’re all artists in some way — we’re softies.”
Sandoval maintains that Brick still owes her $2,452.
“My savings account has dried up and I’m now filing for unemployment,” she added.
Despite the mass exodus and allegations of unpaid wages, Esquivel said if Brick were to host a benefit to address its financial woes, he would support it. He added that he, along with other employees, still believe in the mission of the space — to uplift local arts and music.
Regarding why he stuck around so long after wages allegedly became an issue, he said “We liked working there.”
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