Poor pay and poor working conditions in hotels are notorious, but an important strike shows that these workers can be organised to fight back, reports Eilidh Stewart

Sunday 3 August, marked a historic day for the trade-union movement. It saw the first major hotel strike in Britain since 1979, led by the brave young workers at Glasgow’s Village Hotel. The significance of this industrial action was evident on the picket yesterday with well over fifty people turning out to support the workers with chants, speeches, music and solidarity. The energy and enthusiasm was powerful. Speeches were made from other trade unionists, activists, politicians and most importantly, the Village Hotel workers.

After over a year of negotiations, in July, Unite the Union members balloted to take strike action with 100% (of the 81% turnout) voting in favour. The workers have voted for a month of strike action, and after today, it is clear that they are willing to re-ballot and continue that fight for another month, if necessary. The dispute mainly surrounds the company’s failure to pay the real living wage, wage discrimination based on age and the non-existence of paid breaks.

The significance of this historic action cannot be minimised. The hospitality industry is not only a notoriously difficult industry to organise, it is an industry characterised by a young, transient and overwhelmingly female workforce on low-paid and precarious contracts. The working conditions within the hospitality industry are also famously poor, with high levels of sexual harassment, few to no breaks, zero-hour contracts, ever-changing schedules and both emotionally and physically demanding work.

The workers who spoke at the picket yesterday described having to work long shifts with either no break or a short unpaid break, with one worker stating: ‘when we aren’t getting paid breaks, how are we meant to be giving the customer service that makes this company millions?’ This speaks to the emotional labour required by hospitality workers who have to endure the additional burden of providing ‘service with a smile’ despite their low pay, poor working conditions and exhaustion due to lack of breaks. The workers become commodified into part of the company’s brand and the product being sold, yet they are still labelled as ‘unskilled workers’ and treated as such. It is abundantly clear that hospitality employers and the ruling class more broadly are willing to exploit young workers to line their pockets, although this is not news to anyone.

Another issue that workers spoke of was wage discrimination, whereby workers are paid less simply because they are under 21. This pay disparity is nothing short of discrimination, especially as young workers are not exempt from soaring rents, rising energy costs and the cost-of-living crisis. Furthermore, the trend within the hospitality industry to hire young workers in droves to save a pretty penny shows the lack of value these companies place on their workers. Simply put by one of the strikers: ‘the reason I have decided to join the strike is because I’m tired of being paid less than what I’m worth.’

One of the most striking stories told by the workers was from an eighteen-year-old new father who was not afforded paternity pay. This paternity pay would have cost the company a mere £600, whilst the CEO (who was staying at the hotel during the strike and intimidating workers) takes away huge profits. More than this, Village Hotels is owned by the biggest asset manager in the world, Blackstone. Blackstone has over £1 trillion in assets, yet it can’t afford to pay an eighteen-year-old new dad £600, or its workers the minuscule 39p pay rise for which they are asking.

Hopefully this action will send ripples through the hospitality industry which currently has 3.5 million workers nationally. Progress can already be seen with another hotel strike taking place in London next week. This is only the beginning for hotel workers. The fact that a group of workers who are primarily under 21 have taken this historic action should be an inspiration to all. This momentum was definitely felt by all yesterday and surely extended to the Village Hotel management who stood outside the hotel for the entirety of the picket hoping to intimidate the workers.

The Village Hotel workers will be taking industrial action for the entirety of August. The  challenge will be how to sustain the energy experienced on yesterday’s picket and continue to encourage the young workers taking action. It’s important that everyone gets out to the picket and shows solidarity.