Immediate Release: 30 August 2018
- The BFAWU to ballot Wetherspoons workers at two pubs in Brighton.
The BFAWU union today notified JD Wetherspoon that it is to ballot its members at two of its pubs in Brighton. BFAWU Members at “The Bright Helm”, and “The Post & Telegraph” will be balloted in a secret postal ballot. The Bakers’ Union members will be balloted on their willingness to strike for £10 an hour and union recognition.
Chris Heppell, 29, a kitchen worker at the Post & Telegraph, Wetherspoons in Brighton, said:
“I’ve worked at Wetherspoons for 4 years. In that time I’ve struggled to survive on poverty wages and seen my colleagues’ battle to make ends meet. The McStrikers standing up for £10/hr and a union showed us that if we come together in a union we can make our voices heard. We’ve had enough of being underpaid and undervalued. Now is the time for all hospitality workers to rise up and demand the respect we all deserve.”
Ian Hodson, President BFAWU said:
“Workers at JD Wetherspoon do a hard job. They work long, often anti-social, hours ensuring customers can enjoy their food and drink. JD Wetherspoon depends on its workers to make its large profits; the least those workers deserve is a living wage of £10 an hour to ensure they can afford the basic things in life.”
The Bakers’ Union was behind “the McStrike”, where McDonald’s workers made history by going on strike for the first time in September 2017 at two stores winning a ten year record pay rise, and then again at five stores on 01 May 2018 (International Workers Day).
Notes to editors:
For further information or to organise interviews with McDonald’s workers please contact Owen Espley – Mobile: +44 (0)7861 362 797 / oespley@waronwant.org
- The McStrike and Fast Food Rights campaign are spearheaded by The Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU). They aim to ensure fast food workers have the right to a fair wage and decent working conditions across the country.
- The BFAWU is the largest independent trade union in the food sector in the British Isles. The BFAWU works to ensure that employees are secure and safe in their workplace – and that they are paid an equitable wage for the work they do.
- 04 September 2018, McDonald’s workers organised in the BFAWU made history when members at two McDonald’s stores went on strike for £10 an hour, an end to zero contracts and for their right a union, winning a ten year record pay rise.
- 01 May 2018, (International Workers Day) workers at five McDonald’s stores went out on strike.
Ends
Fast Food Rights 