Glasgow bar staff vote in favour of strike action

Union Unite has confirmed that employees at 13th Note bar in Glasgow will start four weeks of weekend walkouts unless employers make “drastic improvements".

Balloted bar staff at the site voted unanimously in favour of strike action in a bid to secure safer working conditions and better wages.

If the action goes ahead, it will mark the first bar workers’ strike in the UK in 20 years, Unite has said.

The strikes have been scheduled to start on Friday 14 July and will last for four consecutive weekends until Sunday 6 August.

Unite represents 95% of the workers at the venue, which closed last month for environmental reasons, and has since reopened.

Last night (3 July), the trade union tweeted that the owner of 13th Note, Jacqueline Fennessy, had sent “at risk of redundancy” emails to members, days after they had voted for strike action.

Unite posted: “This is trade union intimidation pure and simple and it will not be tolerated.”

Bryan Simpson, lead organiser for Unite Hospitality, said: “Unless the owners of 13th Note get back around the negotiating table to propose improvements to wages, health and safety as well as union recognition, the rift between the owner and workers will only grow wider.”

Nick Troy, Unite’s lead rep at 13th Note, added: "For 17 weeks, we have been trying to reason with the management at 13th Note. From wages to hygiene, to understaffing and our demands for union recognition, we're still not being properly listened to. Surely the strength of the strike vote shows it’s time for that to change.”

13th Note has been contacted for comment.