On Friday, the 5th of September, Brighton-SolFed held an open discussion on Brighton Hospitality Workers Campaign in the Cowley Club. Ten years after the local set up this initiative, some participants gave an account of the experience. Brighton-SolFed started this campaign in 2014. The aim was to develop strategies of workers’ self-defence in hospitality, an […]

Friday the 5th of September at 8pm The Cowley Club. 12 London Road, Brighton BN1 4JA In 2014, Brighton-SolFed launched a campaign in the hospitality sector in Brighton. Local and migrant workers joined forces in defending themselves against employers’ abuses and bad working conditions in the industry. They developed strategies of self-defence in workplaces and […]

Cafe Worker Wins £20,000 After Being Forced to Work with the Door Open in Winter   A cheesecake cafe worker has won over £20,000 at an employment tribunal after raising concerns that working with the door open made her uncomfortably cold. The woman, employed at Whipped in Covent Garden, London, claimed her managers insisted on keeping the […]

Over a million people are currently employed on zero-hours contracts, with a significant proportion working in the hospitality sector. It is estimated that 31-32% of the hospitality workforce is on zero-hours contracts, meaning that a third of people working in hospitality have little or no job security and lack guaranteed income. Zero-hours contracts are therefore […]

The upmarket Ivy chain of restaurants is once again facing allegations of stealing staff tips. A former employee has lodged a claim for constructive dismissal with an employment tribunal. The waiter resigned from the Ivy in June after being denied information regarding how the restaurant chain calculated his share of tips and service charges, which […]

CRISIS AFTER CRISIS No-one will doubt that Higher Education is undergoing one of its historic, but it has to be acknowledged, repeated crises. With a drop in international students by some 16% and with approximately 40% of HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) thought to be likely to go into deficit in 2025-2026, university management teams are […]

The problem with individual employment rights is that no sooner are they introduced than firms find ways to circumvent them. Take, for instance, the laws relating to tips. Under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act, firms must share all tips between workers, including temporary agency staff. The legislation was prompted by a public outcry over […]

The hospitality industry is hardly known for its generosity regarding sick pay. Few employers in this sector provide workers with their full salary when they need time off due to illness. As a result, hospitality workers often have to rely on statutory sick pay when they are unwell. Currently, statutory sick pay, which employers are […]

Since last May, Starbucks North America has implemented a new dress code. The previous dress code allowed for tops of any colour and bottoms, hats, footwear, and outerwear to be black, grey, navy, brown, khaki, or white. The new dress code requires employees to wear a solid black crew neck, collared, or button-up shirt. The […]

In 2023, an Indonesian crew member was found dead in a ship’s storeroom. He had been at sea for six months, working on a longline tuna boat in the Indian Ocean for a monthly wage of $480. In the days leading up to his death, witnesses observed him arguing with the captain, insisting that he […]