Whitbread, a multinational hotel and restaurant company headquartered in the United Kingdom, has announced the shock closure of over 200 restaurants and the loss of up to 1500 jobs on the same day they announced record profits.
This is devasting news for the low paid workers at restaurants such as Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and other well-known brands. For years, Unite the Union has raised concerns about the company’s exploitative work practices and low pay, but this appears to have fallen on deaf ears as senior management embarks on a 150 million GBP cut in staff while “investing” 500 million GBP in new rooms.
- Some of these workers live on site and may even lose their homes as a consequence of these closures
- On the same day, Whitbread announced their adjusted profit before tax had climbed 36% to 561 million GBP
- This is a clear case of the company putting profits before people
Bryan Simpson, Lead Organiser at Unite Hospitality, stated, “For Whitbread to announce the loss of 1500 jobs on the *same day* as bumper profits of £561m (and increase of 36%) is a national scandal. Some of our members aren’t just set to lose their livelihoods but also their homes as many also live on the sites which are earmarked to be closed and sold.”
