By Michael Marron
On the 15th July, workers at Glasgow’s Village Hotel voted 100% in favour of taking historic strike action on an 81% turnout of a majority young workforce. This was going to be the first hotel strike in over 40 years within the UK, the last one being in 1979. What followed over the next three weeks was a heroic struggle as the workers at Village Hotels faced off against one of the biggest hotel chains owned by the largest asset management group in the world, Blackrock.
The conditions in Village Hotels were similar to what is the standard within the hospitality industry; minimum wage, unpaid breaks, zero hour contracts, the list goes on. The demands of the workers were simple with three main issues coming to the fore: a real living wage of £12.60; pay parity for workers under 21 and paid breaks.
From the outset of the strike, management attempted to break the strike using a variety of dirty tactics. Early on it was discovered that they intended to bus in scabs from their other hotel properties to break the strike thus spending thousands on rooms, transport and wages rather than introduce a bare minimum demand of a real living wage for workers at the hotel, a wage increase of only 39p per hour.
Furthermore, Village Hotel threatened to phone the police on the Chair of the TUC Young Workers for seemingly trying to speak with the workers who had been bussed in to break the strike. Village Hotels even called the police on their own striking staff claiming that the noise of the picket was ‘upsetting customers’.
These tactics, while a clear attempt to intimidate workers, did not work. At numerous points during the strike, pay talks were held between the workers representatives and management via ACAS but while these talks went on the pickets continued. Support for the striking hotel workers was widespread, from locals and customers, some of whom were convinced not to cross the picket!
As the strike was about to enter its fourth week, a pay agreement with senior management was reached. Workers had won a 10% pay increase for the youngest workers backdated to April 2024 with some receiving up to £3000. Workers over 21 who would not be benefitting from the pay parity would also receive a payment of £400 and Village Hotel also agreed, in a surprising move, to cover all tax and national insurance resulting from the pay rise.
Lastly there would be a replacement of zero hours contracts with guaranteed minimum hour contracts. Overall, this was a huge victory for the young workers in Village Hotels who took on the largest asset management company and one of the largest hotel chains in the UK and won! Their success should be an inspiration to other workers in the hospitality sector putting up with poor pay and conditions that when workers unite and fight, they can win!
CAMPAIGN OF STRIKE ACTION CAN STOP THE CUTS