Harrods workers will strike later this month in a dispute over Christmas bonuses and a cover charge – the strike comes as the iconic store negotiates the festive season
There are fears of chaos over the busy Christmas period after workers at Harrods voted to strike.
Harrods workers will strike across four days in the coming weeks, just as the iconic London-based store goes through one of the most important periods of the year. Restaurant workers and kitchen and cleaning staff from the United Voices of the World (UVW) union will begin the strike at 8pm on December 20 until 9:30pm on December 22 – they will also walk out at 12am on Boxing Day until 9:30pm the same day.
UVW said “Harrods’ management continued to ignore their demands and refused to engage or even recognise the workers’ union”. Harrods has said it has a “contingency plan” and had “engaged directly”with staff through worker forums, but did not recognise the UVW.
Harrods said 176 workers voted to strike. The dispute that led to industrial action, UVW said, is over improved working condition and Harrods’ decision to deny them a Christmas bonus.
“Striking is a last resort for us,” waiter and union member Alice Howick said according to a press release from UVW. “It will only happen if Harrods continues to be unreasonable in responding to our demands. All we ask is that Harrods respects its employees and agrees to negotiate with us, as members of the UVW union, so a conclusion can be reached.”
Maclino Rodrigues, Harrods night cleaner of eight years: “No-one wants to go on strike, everyone needs to work, we have used up all other options; we have raised it verbally, formally and informally and tried to solve this amicably. They just don’t seem to care, they are reluctant to listen to us, it’s like they have no empathy.”
UVW said its wants a £500 festive bonus for workers, an end to mandatory bank holiday along with “guaranteed annual pay increase above RPI inflation”. It also wants Harrods to hire more staff after a consultation with the union, an end to nine-days straight rotas for cleaners and the introduction of a daily meal allowance for restaurant workers.
Also woven into the demands are disputes around the so-called ‘cover charge’. UVW called for “full transparency of the service charge, with monthly reporting” and an end to the cover charge following Harrods’ decision to introduced a £1 per diner policy in all of its restaurants and cafes.
This means diners are charged a 12.5 per cent service fee along with a £1 charge that goes straight to Harrods. Harrods says this “supports providing the premium environments our restaurants” – there is no indication as yet that the cover charge has affected payments from service charges.
Following the vote to strike earlier this week, Harrods told The Guardian: “At Harrods we recognise the enormous contribution of our colleagues, particularly at busy trading periods such as Christmas… We are committed to working with our colleagues directly to address concerns, as we have been to date, and continue our constructive relationship with our recognised unions on pay and benefits.”
The company, celebrating 175 years this year, added: “Those that have voted to strike, which amounts to 176 employees (approximately 10% of colleagues collectively in these specific affected areas), are a fractional minority of our workforce and we have contingency plans in place over the Christmas period to ensure our services are not disrupted by this planned action.”
