Shearings Collapse is Massive Blow to Eastbourne

The announcement this evening of the collapse of Specialist Leisure Group Ltd. is a massive blow to Eastbourne's already vulnerable tourism and hospitality industry. 

The group includes Shearings Travel, Wallace Arnold, Coast and Country Hotels and a number of other brands.

The Bay Hotels subsidiary owned and operated the Burlington Hotel  and the Majestic Hotel on Eastbourne seafront.  Dozens of staff at these hotels will now be made redundant- some of whom have many years service.

We are not aware of any formal union recognition agreements within these hotels, but we know that a number of SLG staff are members of GMB and Unite- and they should contact their union, without delay, for support.

Information from the Receivers can be read here.

We will post more information as it becomes clear.

Thank You to our FBU Brothers and Sisters

A big shout out to our FBU brothers and sisters in the Fire and Rescue service, and the many others in the other emergency services and NHS for their swift and brave response to the dreadful fire at the Claremont Hotel on Friday.

The Claremont, viewed from the pier, in happier times.

 © Johanna Cuomo | Dreamstime.com

It is down to their skill and professionalism that the fire was brought under control, and no lives were lost. We extend our solidarity to the workers at the hotel, some of whom also lived in. 

The owners of the Claremont have assured the town that they have "comprehensive" interruption of business insurance. We hope that this means that their dedicated workforce will be looked after properly, and will not be left without pay (or, in some cases, accommodation) over the festive period.

We are disappointed at the sloppy journalism from The Guardian, which suggested that there was a two-hour wait from the fire being discovered to the fire brigade arriving. This was a dreadful and untrue slur- Eastbourne's firefighters were on scene within minutes. The Guardian has printed a correction, but no apology Read the article here.

Retail and Hospitality Campaigns Successes

Usdaw has negotiated a significant pay rise for all retail staff in Tesco, taking the basic hourly rate to £8.42 over the next two years.

The deal includes improvements to maternity and new starters pay and a partial consolidation of premium pay into the hourly rate. The first stage of the pay increase will be paid from November.

Usdaw national office Pauline Foulkes said:

“Tesco’s recent difficulties are a matter of public record and the staff have played a big... part in helping turn the company around. Last year they received a one-off 5% bonus in recognition of that.

Meanwhile, Unite campaigners yesterday handed a petition to business secretary Greg Clark urging him to release the government report into tips for restaurant staff. The petition calls on the business secretary to give staff 100 per cent of their tips with complete control over how they are shared out, ban bogus "tronc" schemes and make the code of best practice mandatory.

The 2015 tipping abuse scandal sparked outrage, leading to a huge public backlash, after it emerged that restaurants, including Pizza Express, Bill’s and Strada were pocketing tips and service charge payments intended for staff. The consultation for submissions closed a year ago yet the report is nowhere to be seen. The petition will be delivered to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in Victoria Street at 1pm today.

The union has been forefront in exposing the rip-off culture that has seen restaurant bosses creaming off money left for tips that customers thought were going to cash-strapped staff.   The two-month long government consultation was launched on 2 May 2016, after an eight month review into the dubious tipping practices of some of the UK’s most popular restaurant chains, first exposed by Unite at Pizza Express in the summer of 2015.