BrewDog pub closures should act as a warning to Starmer

The Herald Scotland

17 hours ago

To cut their staff so ruthlessly reveals what most of us already knew about BrewDog.
They're hardly punks with a purpose. Almost 100 jobs could go, with some already away despite the companies promise to focus on redeploying their workforce.
Their bar in Leeds, for example, told workers that, in a mere 96 hours, they would be unemployed.
This is precisely the type of conduct the Prime Minister promised to eliminate when launching his New Deal for Working People.
The New Deal should be holding companies to account – pirate sailors like P&O, for example – who flout employment law with impunity and dismiss their staff with disregard. It can't be enacted quickly enough.
A spokesperson for BrewDog said the 'difficult decision' had been taken as a result of 'ongoing industry challenges'.
They added these included 'rising costs, increased regulation, and economic pressures'.
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The spokesperson said: 'Despite our best efforts, and the hard work of our teams, it has simply not been possible to make these bars commercially viable.
'This decision is not simply a response to the challenging UK hospitality market, but a proactive decision to redefine the bar division's focus for long-term and profitable growth.'
The spokesperson acknowledged some of the locations chosen were 'woven into' the company's' history. But they said there was 'no realistic prospect of making these venues commercially viable'.
We rightly hold BrewDog to account for their punkish exploitation of their employees. We do likewise for all other workplaces, including others in the hospitality business.
That includes the historic strike action taken by the workers of the Village Hotel in Glasgow.
These are predominantly young workers of the food and beverage workforce engaged in a dispute with management over their intransigence to negotiate over improved pay, contracts, and conditions.
Why is it historic? This is the first strike action at a major hotel in the UK for more than 45 years.
It's historic because the dispute is being galvanised and led by young people taking ownership of their working lives. It's historic because it can act as a catalyst for other young workers who, for too long, have had their labour devalued based on their age.
While April's hike in the National Living Wage from £11.44 to £12.21 makes a real difference to hundreds of thousands of workers, it remains £760 a year below a real Living Wage (independently calculated at £12.60).
A bar-shift worker pulling pints does the same level of effort whether they're 20 or 21 years old.
The difference according to the UK Government, however, is £2.21 in their hourly wage, a more than £4,000 wage disparity for those working full time. That's enough to cork the wine or make the beer fall flat.
Daniel Friel, national Unite the Union rep for Village Hotels said: 'Our members at Village Hotels are taking this landmark industrial action because they are sick and tired of unpaid breaks and poverty pay which discriminates based on age.'
'The owners of Village Hotels have more than enough money to pay these workers what they deserve. If they want to stop the first hotel strike at a major hotel in over 45 years, they should get round the table and negotiate with Unite and its members.'
Daniel is right, of course. Why is it that those big companies that can afford to pay the living wage – the BrewDog's of this world – simply choose not to, in the quest for further profits?
Village Hotels are just as culpable.
Rent doesn't get cheaper based on age. Heating and electric doesn't offer an under 21 discount. Utilities and council tax hardly assess their costs based on the year you were born.
Why then do we assume that younger workers deserve less money despite their output being exactly the same?
It's an ancient, anachronistic mutation of our employment laws that has been allowed to fester too long. That's in addition to employers who designate their young workers as 'apprentices' just as an immoral loophole to get out of paying them more money.
Whilst, of course, there are legitimate apprenticeship pathways that hone a craft or develop a skill, with wages rising to reflect different stages of their learning, that is not the same as paying poor wages to workers as a form of cheap labour.
The UK Labour Government said they would abolish this. They promised an end to age wage discrimination. But young hotel workers are still waiting.
Village Hotel workers have had enough of waiting. They're demanding paid breaks for all of their colleagues and backdated wages for those under 21 years at the same rate as colleagues at the Village's hotel in Edinburgh – who Unite says are paid significantly more for the same roles.
It's important now more than ever. We recently surveyed young workers and found that almost two thirds – especially those who have experienced wage age discrimination – are finding themselves in debt as they seek to support themselves.
Don't take my word for it, take the word of Niamh, who previously worked in retail: 'Previous to this job, I worked many roles whilst studying at university where age discrimination in pay was prevalent.
"I was expected to do the exact same job and had the same responsibilities as other members of staff, but was paid less simply because of my age. I believe this is one of the reasons I landed myself in debt as I was working as many hours a week as I could around my studies, but was still unable to afford many things.
'I still had rent to pay, bills to be covered and food to put on the table like every other employee, but because of my age, I was paid less and likely then struggled more because of this.'
Niamh and the others who responded to our survey are clear: they've had enough of being treated like second class workers.
Both they and the workers at Village Hotels deserve the dignity, assurance and respect that a proper living wage can provide, irrespective of age.
All our power to the Village Hotel workers – their fight is a seismic one – if we are to end wage discrimination against young workers and tackle the intergenerational inequality holding our country back.
Roz Foyer is General Secretary of the STUC