A bar owner has denied claims of “trade union intimidation” after staff were warned they could be at risk of redundancy.
Unite Hospitality announced on Monday the union’s workers at The 13th Note in Glasgow had voted to strike in a row over pay and improvements to the music venue’s health and safety.
The union said the industrial action would be the first bar workers’ strike in the UK in more than 20 years unless “drastic improvements” were made.
It comes after workers previously submitted a collective grievance to the owners, citing issues with staff contracts, health and safety, and a rodent infestation.
The premises was closed last month by environmental health due to a mouse infestation. It has since reopened.
The strikes are scheduled to take place over four consecutive weekends, starting Friday 14 July.
Following notification of the industrial action, owner Jacqueline Fennessy sent an email to workers warning that the business was at risk of implementing “potential redundancies” due to the venue’s “poor performance”.
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She later said it was “categorically untrue to allege that any warning given of redundancy is in any way related to union membership or industrial action”.
In the email to staff, she wrote: “My reasons for these redundancies are solely based on the poor performance of the venue over several months.”
Ms Fennessy said increased costs “across the board”, including “excruciating utility bills” and weeks of hot weather, had affected business.
She added: “At the moment the forecast does not look good, and the cash flow is very worrying.
“I feel it is important to give you as much warning as possible of the serious risk of redundancy.
“At the moment, I have not decided who exactly is at risk, and no selection process has been taken at this stage.”
Ms Fennessy said the situation would be monitored “over the next few weeks” and one-to-one meetings would take place with the staff once she has sat down with the office manager and gone through the accounts.
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In a tweet, Unite Hospitality branded the email “trade union intimidation pure and simple” and said it would “not be tolerated”.
The union represents 95% of the workers employed at the venue.
Bryan Simpson, lead organiser for Unite Hospitality, told Sky News: “These redundancies have nothing to do with ‘poor performance’ at The 13th Note.
“The venue made £1,500 last night alone, on a Monday that is unheard of.
“This is about an unscrupulous employer getting rid of the unionised workers who have taken a stand against some of the egregious health and safety breaches I’ve ever seen.
“Announcing mass redundancy days after workers vote for strike action is trade union victimisation pure and simple.
“If Ms Fennessy wants to avoid a sustained legal battle and the inevitable backlash on her other two venues (The Bungo and The Left Bank) she should rescind these redundancy notices immediately and work with us to resolve this dispute.”
In response, Ms Fennessy said the business was in a “financially precarious position which may or may not result in redundancies”.
She told Sky News: “I am obliged legally and morally to give staff as much notice as possible of any risk of redundancy.
“It is categorically untrue to allege that any warning given of redundancy is in any way related to union membership or industrial action.
“I fully support staffs right to join a union and have never intimated anything to the contrary.
“Given the current financial climate, factors such as COVID, high utility bills, soaring inflation etc, the business is not unique in facing a struggle to survive.”
