Whitbread under pressure from Unite over planned 1,500 job cuts

Premier Inn owner Whitbread is facing renewed pressure from a trade union over its plans to cut 1,500 jobs.

Unite organised a protest outside the Dunstable headquarters of Whitbread on Tuesday afternoon as the hospitality firm held its annual general meeting.

Whitbread, which is also behind restaurants chains including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, reported a 1% rise in group sales to £739m in the first quarter of the year.

It comes after the company said in April it would cut 1,500 jobs, roughly 4% of its total workforce, as part of plans to offload its struggling branded restaurants arm.

This would see Whitbread exit 126 restaurants and convert 112 into new hotel rooms over the next two years.

Trade union dispute

Unite, which is not formally recognised by Whitbread, has accused the company of failing to carry out a proper redundancy process.

The trade union said it had “hundreds of members” at Whitbread, many of whom live in accommodation tied to their workplaces and fear they could lose their homes.

It is understood no eviction notices have been served yet as part of the process and elected employee representatives have been provided with information about site closures.

Speaking via a statement from Unite, an anonymous Whitbread worker said: “We are still only being drip fed information with little to no time to process or evaluate options.

“The collective consultation process seems to have mostly dismissed any ideas put forward by our reps making everything look like it is just a tick box exercise to try and cover Whitbread against any legal backlash.

“I feel I can speak for quite a few people when I say we’re all scared of what is coming. There are people out there not only losing their jobs but their homes too and there is little to no support from head office. We are now sat counting down the weeks wondering what will happen.”

A Whitbread spokesperson said it “did not accept these allegations”.

They added: “We have a comprehensive and transparent collective consultation process and are engaging directly with elected representatives and the individuals potentially impacted.

“The consultation process is still ongoing and as part of this we are seeking to find alternative opportunities wherever possible through the roles created by this programme and our existing recruitment process that makes c.15,000 hires each year.

“We expect to retain a significant proportion of those who wish to remain with us and are providing dedicated support to our teams.”

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