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TUC boss urges public backing for McStrike | TUC boss urges public backing for McStrike |
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The Trades Union Congress has urged the public to show support for a McStrike involving low-paid hospitality workers, couriers and taxi drivers. | |
Staff from several branches of McDonald’s and TGI Fridays, and two Wetherspoon pubs in Brighton, as well as some Deliveroo couriers and UberEats drivers, will stage coordinated walkouts on Thursday in separate disputes over pay and union recognition. | |
A demonstration will be held in Leicester Square in central London, and there will be action in other cities including Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Newcastle, Plymouth and Southampton. The event has been organised by War On Want, Unite, and the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union. | |
The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, described the strike as “small but growing” after some UberEats drivers said they were joining the action. The food delivery service’s workers want to be paid £5 per delivery plus a further £1 per mile. | |
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, O’Grady called for public backing for the action. “We need the public and communities to support us. We’ll be at 11 o’clock in Leicester Square holding our rally,” she said. | |
Separately, Amazon, whose employees are not involved in the strike, has been criticised for cutting benefits for UK warehouse workers, offsetting at least half of a big pay rise announced this week. | |
The removal of employee share and incentive schemes could cost thousands of workers £1,500 in a single year, according to the GMB union, which accused the online retailer of imposing “a stealth tax on its own wage increase”. | The removal of employee share and incentive schemes could cost thousands of workers £1,500 in a single year, according to the GMB union, which accused the online retailer of imposing “a stealth tax on its own wage increase”. |
O’Grady urged more workers to join unions. “We are seeing young workers in particular from a whole range of different hospitality employers, but also these new tech monopolies that are using very old-fashioned forms of exploitation, and more and more young people joining their union,” she said. | |
“The only way that workers are going to get justice is by joining a union. In the end, Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world who runs Amazon, is not going to listen to workers individually, we have to combine our collective bargaining power. | |
“Very often, young workers are frightened, especially if they are on zero-hours contracts or sham self-employment, that they won’t get offered shifts if they do join up. We are also seeing among young people a sense that they have nothing to lose.” | |
Unite members at TGI Fridays restaurants in Milton Keynes and London will stage their eighth walkout as part of a long-running dispute over a change in tips policy that they say has left waiting staff £250 a month worse off. | |
Unite’s national officer Rhys McCarthy said hospitality workers were finding their voice. “These workers have had enough of low pay and insecure work. They are leading a growing movement against low pay and insecure work in the hospitality sector and across the gig economy,” he said. | |
The McDonald’s, TGI Fridays and Wetherspoons workers are demanding better working conditions across the hospitality sector, pay of £10 an hour and an end to “precarious” contracts. | The McDonald’s, TGI Fridays and Wetherspoons workers are demanding better working conditions across the hospitality sector, pay of £10 an hour and an end to “precarious” contracts. |
Fast-food workers in the US are also on strike this week over pay. | |
A spokesman for TGI Fridays said: “Our team members are a part of our Fridays family. We believe they should be, and are, treated and paid fairly. Out of a workforce of over 5,500 team members, less than 1% are involved in this action.” | A spokesman for TGI Fridays said: “Our team members are a part of our Fridays family. We believe they should be, and are, treated and paid fairly. Out of a workforce of over 5,500 team members, less than 1% are involved in this action.” |
An UberEats spokesman said: “In response to feedback from couriers, we’ve made some changes to our payment structure in London, which brings it into line with other cities. Our door is always open for individual couriers to speak to us about any issues they’re having.” | |
JD Wetherspoon said it had increased its spending on pay by £20m in the year to July, and would raise it by a further £27m this year. | |
The pub chain’s chairman, Tim Martin, said: “It is understandable that there is pressure on pay with low unemployment and a housing shortage. However, bonuses, free shares and other benefits should be taken into account in assessing pay. I don’t think it would benefit employees overall if, as some suggest, Wetherspoon ended bonuses, free shares and other benefits, and increased the basic rate of pay. | |
“It’s easy to be cynical about business, but companies like McDonald’s, TGI Fridays and thousands of other individuals and businesses make a big contribution to the economy and provide valuable work and experience for many people.” | “It’s easy to be cynical about business, but companies like McDonald’s, TGI Fridays and thousands of other individuals and businesses make a big contribution to the economy and provide valuable work and experience for many people.” |
Steve Garelick of GMB said: “The continued attacks made on workers, from rate reduction without consultation to gratuities being hived off, show that there is nothing wholesome in the service and gig economy sector.” | |
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