hospitality

You’ve just made your 300th flat white of the day, you’ve been on your feet for the best part of 9 hours, you’re fucking knackered and a customer has just come back and wants their almond milk ice latte remade. You are a hospitality worker in London.

Hospitality work is often badly paid and tears at your soul having to smile and say thank you to someone who likely makes 5x your wages and doesn’t leave a tip.

With growing inequality it feels especially brutal as with the gentrification of London you often have to serve the very people who are also pushing you out of your neighbourhood and bars, cafes and restaurants are part of their playground as you just try to cover your rent.

WORKPLACE ORGANISER TRAINING

The Solidarity Federation Hospitality Workers Union invites you to attend our organiser training. This training is free and open to anyone who wants to organise in their workplace, not just hospitality workers.

The training will include case studies of past workplace organisation and actions, how to map out your own workplace, role playing through a first meeting with your co-workers, and general tactics and techniques for organising and resisting.

Find out more at: solfedhwu.noblogs.org email sfhwu@riseup.net

London Action Resource Center 62 Fieldgate Street, London, E1 16S 26th of July 11:00 to 18:00

We are the Solidarity Federation, a network of local groups who want to take action against bosses, landlords  and capitalism.

We want to talk to you about ways you can organise at work that can actually get results, whether the problem is dodgy contracts, missed breaks, pay, or if your boss is a wanker. We believe that organised workers taking action into their own hands is what's needed, not just having to leave your job, having to take it, or going through a big bureaucratic union or HR department.

Come along to talk to organisers from SolFed and connect with local workers to discuss issues that face us at work and in the community and what we can do about it.

The Hospitality Worker’s Union is a democratic trade union that seeks to organise all people working in the hospitality industry. Our aim is to fight for better pay and working conditions for all hospitality workers. Our long term aim is to create a better world in which the economy is democratically controlled, environmentally sustainable, and run for the benefit of society as a whole rather than the rich and powerful. The Hospitality Workers’ Union is part of the Solidarity Federation which seeks to organise workers across the whole of the economy. We have listed below the answer to frequently asked question about the Solidarity Federation Hospitality Workers Union (SFHWU).

A former employee of popular burger chain Almost Famous protested outside a partner restaurant in Manchester after his no-notice redundancy left him without pay for a month. 

On January 27, Almost Famous made more than 110 employees redundant across their branches in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool – with many only finding out about their redundancies via social media. Outside of the Northern Quarter’s burger spot Super Awesome Deluxe – which is run by the Almost Famous team – members of Solidarity Federation Hospitality Workers’ Union handed out flyers to bring light to the recent struggles of the chain’s redundant workers. 

On January 27th, over 110 employees at restaurant chain Almost Famous (Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool) were made redundant, tossed aside with zero consultation or notice. The owners were quick to inform the media but some staff only found out via social media. Redundancy without notice is illegal. The owners of Almost Famous knew at least a fortnight beforehand about the pending insolvency, but kept staff in the dark, and monthly paid staff effectively worked for nothing in January. Rather than getting outstanding wages and holidays, staff were told to apply via an external company and the Government’s Redundancy Payment Services. The owners didn’t even bother to submit the details needed for staff to begin a claim.

A week after the closure of all hospitality business, the workers of Pub Invest Group from Liverpool got bad news.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, they were not able to give any hours to their workers as they don’t have the resources to cover their staff wages. They did, however, wish best luck to all their workforce and to see them back soon when they open again.

Pub Invest Groups owns some of the most popular night pubs in the central area of Liverpool such as Einsteins, Moloko or McCooley’s. As it is common in the hospitality industry, they show their appreciation for their staff with low-pay and job insecurity.