A popular music venue in Glasgow has called in liquidators amid a staff dispute and is blaming a union for having to close its doors.
Workers at The 13th Note went on strike over the weekend after a collective grievance was submitted to the owners, citing issues with staff contracts, health and safety, and a rodent infestation.
The Unite members staged a 48-hour walkout from noon on Friday until Sunday, and vowed to continue the industrial action every weekend until 6 August.
It was the first bar workers’ strike in Scotland in more than 20 years and coincided with the busy Glasgow Fair public holiday.
On Wednesday, owner Jacqueline Fennessy announced with “deep sadness” the closure of the business after 21 years and claimed it had been “driven to insolvency by Unite Hospitality”.
Unite Hospitality branded the closure as “trade union intimidation pure and simple”.
In a statement, Ms Fennessy said: “The challenges of running an independent hospitality venue in today’s climate of inflationary pressures and post-lockdown challenges have been well documented.
“However, it has been the involvement of Unite Hospitality that has caused a drastic reduction in revenue that has forced our closure and the loss of all jobs at The 13th Note.”
The workers had voted to take action 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 later reopened.
Unite represents 95% of the workers at the venue, with 100% voting to strike.
Talks between the union, the bar’s owners and Acas were due to take place on Wednesday.
Read more:
Restaurant forced into U-turn after threatening to deduct tips
Walkout at missile depot ‘could threaten munitions supply to Ukraine’
Ms Fennessy stated weekly revenue at the venue had declined steadily due to the public dispute and the recent strike action “depleted all available funds in the business”.
She said 18 team members would be losing their jobs, and made claims of suffering threats, verbal assaults, dishonesty and bullying amid the dispute.
Unite Hospitality said 21 workers were affected.
Ms Fennessy said: “Why an organisation designed to protect the welfare of hospitality employees would choose to sabotage its own members’ jobs with full knowledge of the impact their action would have, I will never know.
“Every business encounters challenges, but any issues raised were rectified quickly and the team treated with integrity, respect and an honest desire to make their working lives better.
“The statements of serious health and safety issues were simply not true.
“With the business driven to insolvency by Unite Hospitality, it is time for The 13th Note to sadly close its doors for the last time.”
Following notification of the industrial action earlier this month, Ms Fennessy sent an email to workers warning that the business was at risk of implementing “potential redundancies” due to the venue’s “poor performance”.
Bryan Simpson, lead organiser for Unite Hospitality, told Sky News that Ms Fennessy had made a “firm commitment” to the union to postpone any redundancies until Wednesday’s meeting with Acas.
He added: “To close a workplace and sack more than 20 workers days after they take historic strike action is trade union intimidation pure and simple.
“To sack them with only a week’s wages and less than 30 days’ notice is also unlawful.
“This employer didn’t even have the decency to tell some of her workers that they were being made redundant before she briefed the press with a smear campaign aimed at discrediting the workers who have made her profits over the years.
“The workers of The 13th Note made this venue and we will do everything we can to ensure that this continues.”
