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Village Hotel strikers hold firm

UNITE members working at one of Glasgow’s major hotels, Village, have vowed to keep up the pressure after their employer conceded ground in a dispute over pay.

A week into their all-out action, the first of its kind at a major hotel chain in Britain for 46 years, the workers’ daily picket in Govan shows little sign of weakening, despite bosses calling the police on strikers earlier in the week.

Strikers ranging in age from 16 to 26 walked out a week ago to demand not only an end to pay disparities between their Govan site and the chain’s Edinburgh hotel but to push for the real living wage be paid as a minimum to all employees regardless of age.

They are also seeking paid breaks and other improvements in conditions,, such as paternity pay.

Unite hospitality branch convener Daniel Friel argued that the pay disparity had left women under 21 in Glasgow earning up to a pound an hour less than male comparators in Edinburgh.

He told the picket: “We’ve had to move further from the hotel — and that’s because on two occasions, head office has instructed management to call the police on their own workers picketing peacefully.

“We have made progress,, though, and we are potentially going to enter into [conciliation service] Acas talks next week with the employer.”

Vowing to “continue the picket every single day,” he added: “After a week of picketing, we are looking very likely to fix the pay differential between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

“Because workers came out to strike, they could have thousands of pounds more in their pockets this time next year.

“That’s down to the workers who have come out every day to picket and the support they have had.”

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