Flexible hours, sick pay and meals: British workers get a better deal
Flexible hours, sick pay and meals: British workers get a better deal
For Josh Hughes-Davies, the best thing about his job in a bar in the coastal city of Brighton is the free meal with every shift.
BRIGHTON, England, Oct 2 (Reuters) - For Josh Hughes-Davies, the best thing about his job in a bar in the coastal city of Brighton is the free meal with every shift.
For his manager, Barrie Chapman, the overtime he now gets is a huge boost once unheard of in the hospitality sector. Their regional manager Jen Eaton looks back in horror at the 14-hour shifts she once worked in casinos in heels with no break.
Like thousands of others in lower-paid sectors of the British economy, all three have benefited from a gradual improvement in employment terms since the global pandemic and Brexit forced companies to work harder to find staff in a tight labour market.
The shift follows years of warnings from unions and campaign groups that the balance of power in Britain had swung too far towards employers, leaving many lower-paid staff working unpredictable hours with poor benefits and little protection.
Nick Collins, CEO of Loungers (LGRS.L) which employs Eaton, Chapman and Hughes-Davies among 8,000 staff in restaurants and bars across Britain, said expectations of employees had risen.
"And rightly so. The combination of Brexit and COVID have transformed the market," he told Reuters.
Wow this almost makes it sound as if people are suddenly being paid a living wage! Which they fucking aren't. These hospitality employers are still paying people minimum wage and in a city like Brighton where the average 1 bed flat costs £1000pcm or more before bills and food etc minimum wage isn't enough.
Oh wow, sick pay and a meal, pretty much everyone in this country gets some form of sick pay due to the law and I'd take being paid a living wage over a shitty unhealthy pub meal for free any day!
Utter bullshit reporting.
Yeah they're trying to sell us the idea that things are magical and wonderful instead of the most squeezed we've ever been.
I think this article is aimed at Americans who generally have a shitter deal than we do here when in a minimum wage job. But yea, still not good enough.