Glasgow bar staff strike at The 13th Note is 'the first in Scotland in more than 20 years'

July 14, 2023

Staff at a popular Glasgow music venue are set to walk out on Friday amid a dispute over pay and safety concerns - making it the first bar workers' strike in Scotland in more than 20 years.

Workers at The 13th Note are taking industrial action after a collective grievance was submitted to the owners, citing issues with staff contracts, health and safety, and a rodent infestation.

The staff will stage a 48-hour walkout from noon on Friday until Sunday, and then again every weekend until 6 August. The action coincides with this weekend's busy Glasgow Fair public holiday.

The workers are looking for better wages, improvements to health and safety, and trade union recognition.

It comes after the venue was closed last month by environmental health due to a mouse infestation. It has since reopened.

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: "Unite's members at The 13th Note bar in Glasgow are striking following the failure of the bar's owners to make improvements on pay and on health and safety concerns.

"In what has become one of the first bar workers' strikes in over 20 years, we support them and hope the owners now recognise the strength of the collective.

"These workers deserve credit for standing up for their rights in an industry that is riding roughshod over staff.

"Unite will back them 100% in their demands for better pay and safer working conditions."

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The union represents 95% of the workers employed at the venue, with 100% voting to strike.

Talks between the union, the bar's owners and Acas are due to take place on Wednesday.

Nick Troy, Unite's lead rep at The 13th Note, said the union remains "hopeful" the talks will avert further strike action.

He added: "This action is a reflection of our determination to ensure fair treatment.

"The continuation of the strike action beyond this weekend is not inevitable if the concerns and demands of the workforce are resolved."

Following notification of the industrial action earlier this month, owner Jacqueline Fennessy sent an email to workers warning that the business was at risk of implementing "potential redundancies" due to the venue's "poor performance".

She later said it was "categorically untrue to allege that any warning given of redundancy is in any way related to union membership or industrial action".

Unite Hospitality branded the email "trade union intimidation pure and simple" and said it would "not be tolerated".

Ms Fennessy told Sky News at the time: "I fully support staffs right to join a union and have never intimated anything to the contrary.

"Given the current financial climate, factors such as COVID, high utility bills, soaring inflation etc, the business is not unique in facing a struggle to survive."

The 13th Note has been contacted for comment.

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