Have read, with great dismay,postings on this site. Has anyone affected been in touch with ACAS to get employment advice? Anyone leaving a job because they cannot continue should get advice from ACAS and can lodge a constructive dismissal claim quite easily and at no cost when left with no other course of action. Similarly anyone believing they are being discriminated against can easily lodge a claim which will be considered objectively.
It appears to me that there is an agenda here - the complete disregard of customer service, the cost-cuts in number of staff hours, the removal/limitations of provision of food or use of pubs for private events, no tv, no music, and no signs etc etc either suggests that the owners have so much money that they don't need to consider the market place or have a complete and total naivety in how to run a business efficiently and effectively and so are playing at it or have a plan in place to optimise a sell-off of premises- not as going concerns but for land values.
Whatever their agenda is, they have onerous responsibilities as employers to treat their staff fairly and within the employment law of the land- which, from my browsing of the comments posted on this website, they certainly appear to be disregarding.
Use employment law to break the cycle of bullying, gain customer support, gain union support, and gain publicity. Use Health & safety laws, equal opportunities, working time regulations to support your cases, and keep records of every conversation, every memo and every directive issued. No employer in the country is above the law if staff take action; reputations are easily damaged by the publicity that follows a constructive dismissal, breach of working time regs or health & safety breach for example.
Sam Smiths have a responsibility to the people it employs- it cannot deliberately run the business down nor can it take obviously detrimental policy decisions- company law does not allow this.
You can be sure that the owners are taking advice - you should too.
We are not living in Victorian England- no boss, whether owner or area manager, can afford to behave in the way described by comments posted on this website- be heard and make things change!
