JD Wetherspoon is facing a staff protest over bank holiday pay that could see thousands of beer mats distributed in its pubs, in an ironic reprise of its owner’s Brexit campaign.
Before the 2016 referendum, Tim Martin sent out nearly two million pro-Brexit beer mats.
But now, as many as 4,000 Wetherspoon workers have joined a campaign for extra pay for working on bank holidays.
The campaign is being led by Organise, a network that strives to give workers a platform to air grievances. It is best known for putting the spotlight on issues at McDonald’s, Amazon, Uber and Deliveroo.
Organise is running a petition open to staff, customers and the public, which has so far gained 49,988 signatures.
Bank holidays and annual leave
One Wetherspoon worker, who did not want to be named quoted in The Times, said: “So many other pubs pay their staff double pay or time and a half for working bank holidays. We are required to work bank holidays, which are often the worst days of the year, with many difficult customers. Any disputes that happen, bar and floor staff have to deal with.”
The beer mat campaign was deliberately aimed at Martin given the methods he used to promote Brexit. Organise stated: “It’s a bold idea and it will cost quite a bit. But if thousands of us chip in to power this action, together we can force Tim Martin to confront the fact his staff don’t get paid as much as other pub workers on bank holidays.”
However, it is considered normal within the pub trade not to pay extra money for bank holidays as they are considered to be normal working days in some sectors. There is no statutory right to extra pay, for example time and a half or double time, when an employee works on a bank holiday.
Wetherspoon said: “We review our pay and benefits package for employees on a regular basis – for example, we have recently extended the offer of free food to all pub employees while working, and we believe the overall package is competitive. In 2019 the company paid £46 million in bonuses and free shares to employees, of which 83% was paid to employees who worked in pubs.”
The company said that employees working on Christmas Day got double time and all staff received 28 days’ paid holiday a year.
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