Wetherspoon, TGI Friday's and McDonald's staff to coordinate strike

Workers from JD Wetherspoon, McDonald's and TGI Fridays will coordinate strikes next month in a joint push for better wages.

The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) said the action, to be staged by some staff from two Wetherspoons pubs, two TGI Friday's and four McDonald's restaurants, is set for October 4.

Chris Heppell, a 29-year-old employee at Wetherspoon's Post and Telegraph pub in Brighton, told the Huffington Post that workers face "physically and emotionally exhausting" conditions.

He said staff get "very little" compared with the money made by Wetherspoon, which posted a pre-tax profit of £54.3 million in the second half of 2017, "from our hard work".

Pay for bar staff over 18 starts at £8.05 an hour with kitchen staff receiving £8.25 an hour. After the completion of a probation period, the pay goes up by 10p.

Striking workers are asking for union recognition and a pay rise to £10 an hour, which they hope would lift them out of subsistence living conditions.

The strike is part of an international day of action by fast-food workers and wider efforts to increase union membership, a BFAWU spokesperson told the BBC.

Caroline Lucas, MP for the Green Party for Brighton Pavilion, wrote on Twitter: "All staff campaigning for the basic dignity of a living wage have my full support.

"I’ve heard of constituents having to live in hostels, despite working incredibly long hours.

"It's time for big companies to reward employees for the massive contribution they make to profits."

The BFAWU, said in a statement posted on Facebook: "Work should enable people to live not just exist. Our members are showing their strength and determination to build a fairer society."

Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said in a statement that the firm has been reviewing pay.

“In the company’s results announcement on Friday September 14, it announced that it had increased pay rates in the last financial year (to July 2018) by £20 million and would be increasing rates this year by £27 million,” he said.

“It also decided several months ago, that management will work a 40 hour week instead of the current 42.5 hours from April 2019.

“We are also moving to the same rate for 18-21s as we already have for over 21s from November 5 2018. In addition we are putting up the rate of pay.”

He added that pub employees had benefited from bonuses and other initiatives in recent years.

A spokesman for McDonald's said the strike action was not widespread.

He said: “We are disappointed to confirm that we have been notified of industrial action in four of our restaurants - Cambridge, Crayford, Watford and Brixton on 4 October.

“Any suggestion that this activity is widespread and growing is not accurate – we understand that fewer of our employees are involved in potential industrial action than last May, with the support from our people of the union diminishing.

“The numbers also represent an extremely small proportion of our workforce - in Brixton, for example, just two of our employees have been balloted for strike out of a workforce of more than 100.”

TGI Fridays did not immediately return a request for comment.