Former staff at Jamie’s Italian restaurant chain in Scotland are speaking out about being made redundant last month with only half an hour’s notice despite previous assurances from senior managers that all was well at the business.
A video issued today by Unite Scotland, which now represents around 60% of the former workforce in Scotland, captures the distress and confusion among the loyal former workforce who are now being supported by their union in legal efforts to gain redundancy payments, unpaid wages, and outstanding holiday pay, all of which are still owed to staff.
With the ex-Jamie’s workers left tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket between them, Unite is also campaigning to change the law to ensure that protective awards will be automatically granted to workers who have not received statutory notice under Section 86 of the Employment Rights Act so averting lengthy court proceedings in order to secure their compensation.
Praising the workers for speaking up, Bryan Simpson, Unite Scotland Hospitality Coordinator said: “These heartbreaking and angering stories from our members at Jamie’s Italian really highlight that there is a serious problem in the hospitality industry for workers. These workers devoted themselves to making this business a success,, absorbing all the cost cutting and pressures from above, but when it came down to it were treated appallingly by Jamie’s.
“In speaking up, Unite’s members are shining a light on an increasingly unstable sector where it is the workers on the restaurant floor pay the heaviest price for boardroom mistakes.
“Not only do we intend to reclaim what this group of workers is owed, but we will fight for the law to be changed so that no worker should have to face these injustices in the future. The existing law is entirely inadequate when it comes to protecting workers’ wages when a business goes to the wall. It is high time that the law was amended to deliver justice for working people. For now the power to make this change rests at Westminster, another reason why we need employment law to be devolved.
“The Unite hospitality branches are only in their infancy, but we hope to set up a network for workers in the sector to empower them, and that this video can help others see the power of coming together in a union. Our message to workers is that long after your boss has walked away, Unite carries on fighting for you.”
Anyone who has been impacted by the closure of Jamie’s Italian Limited can contact Bryan Simpson at Bryan.Simpson@unitetheunion.org