Victory in wages dispute! Following a prolonged campaign against a high-profile Brighton
grocer, a former cashier worker & BHW member has received ?1,250 in owed wages and unpaid
holiday entitlement. The worker, who was on a zero-hours contract, was sacked without
notice following 3 weeks when the bosses refused to give her any hours. She was also owed
holiday pay from the previous & current holiday year for leave she was prevented from
taking. ---- Our demands were issued in a letter citing working time regulations & with a
financial breakdown of money owed, including a demand for average pay for the 3 weeks of
denied work. The grocery's owners attempted to retain control throughout the conflict by
trying to isolate and intimidate the former worker, cancelling meetings at the last
moment, withdrawing offers and threatening to sack staff. However, BHW stood firm and
matters recently came to a head when the worker, supported by a comrade, demanded a
meeting in the bosses' office. Meanwhile, a potential picket of 16 SolFed & BHW members
made their presence felt outside, armed with leaflets informing customers about the
exploitative conditions inside. Clearly anxious at the threat of direct action and the bad
publicity this would create, payment was immediately made in full.
BHW currently has members among the cashier staff and they'll be reporting on developments
at the store, which has earned a reputation for bullying management, illegal contracts and
a lack of dignity and respect for workers. This is the fourth successive wages victory for
BHW & SolFed and testifies to the strength and effectiveness of workers'
self-organisation, solidarity & direct action.
Brighton Hospitality Workers is an initiative of Brighton SolFed and was formed in
response to the widespread exploitation of workers, many of them immigrant, in Brighton?s
hospitality sector. We hold weekly advice & propaganda workshops, flyposting of busy areas
and a stall on Saturday afternoons where we distribute workers? rights info and raise the
profile of BHW by approaching workers in local businesses.
Another Win For SolFed
Newcastle Local won a substantial unpaid wages pay claim with a glazing and building
company, based in Monkseaton, Tyne and Wear.
Acting with a worker who contacted us for support after unsuccessfully battling her former
boss for wages due to her, and having agreed a demand and strategy, Newcastle SolFed
initiated a public awareness campaign drawing attention to the behaviour and practices of
the owner of the shop. The owner is notorious for his abuse of workers' rights: summarily
sacking and not paying workers, as well as deducting money from wages for taxes that he
never pays.
Despite empty threats, harassment and intimidation to both the former employee and to
Newcastle Local, the company capitulated due to door-to-door leafleting of the
neighbourhood, four days before his shop was planned to be picketed.
Newcastle Local would have preferred the company to have promptly paid the money owed - a
four figured sum - without having to resort to direct action, thus keeping the name of the
company out of the public domain. However due to the owner's slippery attempts at delay
his public shaming was unavoidable.
The intimidation and harassment only served to increase our determination with the result
of a quick and easy win for the Local that gained us an extra member.
www.solfed.org.uk
And another:
Transnational Companies Cave Into Wages Demands Following Picket
Another victory for Brighton Hospitality Workers and for direct action! In February, two
members of Brighton Hospitality Workers (BHW) brought unpaid holiday entitlement issues to
the group, incurred while both had worked at the Brighton premisis of a transnational
hotel chain. The hotel's housekeeping staff were contracted to work there by the UK
operation of an international recruitment exploiter with a reputation for with-holding
pay, particularly after contracts had been terminated. One worker was owed ?286 in holiday
pay for leave she was prevented from taking, despite repeated requests to her manager, as
well as 2 days' outstanding sick pay.
The second worker was owed ?180 in holiday pay, also for leave she was prevented from
taking, again despite repeated requests ? in December her boss told her she 'had lost' her
right to take paid leave.
Interviews with the workers exposed shameful conditions at the hotel: 'Housekeeper's
health conditions don't matter and work pressure is huge. You are expected to work really
fast, maintaining a a work rate of 3 or 4 rooms an hour, sometimes without taking breaks
for lunch and feeling dizzy or dehydrated. You know when you start but never when you'll
finish'. The workers held both the recruitment agency and the hotel management equally
responsible: 'They offer cheap rooms but the only cheap thing in this hotel is the worker,
who thanks to the agency, changes the bedding, cleans and tidies-up sometimes very messy
and dirty rooms for less than ?2 per room. Wouldn't you have thought the hotel was happy
enough with its extremely high profits?'. Recording workers' experiences is an important
part of BHW strategy, and we are building a database of bad employers to be shared on
social media and reproduced on a map of exploitation 'hotspots'.
As at the start of any workplace conflict, a strategy was agreed on with the workers and
immediately put in place. Letters demanding payment were sent to the agency, firstly from
the individual workers, and when this failed to get a response, from BHW and Brighton
SolFed as a collective demand. Our collective demand resulted in part payment to one of
the workers, but clearly this wasn't enough. A propaganda leaflet about the campaign,
naming both hotel and agency, was drafted and sent to both, warning that if full payment
wasn't made immediately then a campaign of action would begin. We agreed to focus action
on the hotel, being the workplace directly responsible and also the most vulnerable in
terms of it's public profile ? it would then be up to hotel bosses to put pressure on the
agency to pay up.
We staged a well-attended picket of the hotel on a Saturday morning in March, where
leaflets were handed to guests, staff and management, and plastered over the windscreens
of guest's cars. The hotel manager was obviously surprised by this and during a discussion
with two of our delegates hurriedly contacted her area manager and the agency director. We
left promising escalating action until the workers' demand were met, including a social
media campaign, which visibly alarmed the manager. We were contacted on Saturday afternoon
by both the hotel chain's area manager and the agency director, who requested that further
action be suspended until they investigated the matter. Full payment was made the
following week, and in a statement the agency director stated that they were paying as 'a
gesture of goodwill' ? it's amazing how much goodwill a campaign of direct action can inspire!
Victory against wage stealing language school!
After a short but intense campaign, Marta, a receptionist at the Speak Up London language
school, has won a week?s unpaid wages and a glowing reference.
Marta was sacked without reason and without the required one week?s notice. She got in
contact with Solidarity Federation who quickly organised over a dozen people to March into
the bosses? office with a letter demanding she be given a week?s pay in lieu of notice and
a positive reference.
After Speak Up failed to respond to Marta?s letter, SolFed and other supportive
individuals and organi-sations organised a massive blockade of the Speak Up Facebook page.
Hundreds of post appeared within the 45 minutes. An hour and half into the action, Speak
Up shut down their Facebook page entirely to all UK users.
The next day SolFed received an email from the bosses at Speak Up: they were paying up. It
contained a copy of Marta?s final payslip alongside a copy of a positive reference letter.
Congratulations to Marta and thank you to everyone who supported the campaign!
To all workers in the language teaching industry: we don?t have to accept bullying bosses
or bad conditions lying down. When we ?speak up? the bosses will pay up.
Whether, like Marta, you have no contract or just a lousy contract, don?t be afraid to
fight back. Talk to your workmates and think how you can collectively fight to improve
your working conditions And if you need help, don?t hesitate to contact SolFed.
* www.iwa-ait.org/sites/default/files/documents/iwa_external_bulletin_no.8_june_2014.pdf
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» (en) IWA External Bulletin #8* - SolFed chalks up another wages win with Brighton Hospitality Workers