Wetherspoons to cut up to 450 jobs from six pubs in airports due to coronavirus
WETHERSPOONS has announced plans to cut 450 jobs across six of its airport pubs.
The jobs cull would affect staff in Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports.
The popular pub chain has written to 1,000 people to inform them that a possible 400 to 450 positions are at risk of redundancy.
It comes hours before Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to enforce a 10pm curfew on pubs in a bid to fend off a second wave of coronavirus.
Speaking over the weekend, Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin warned pubs and restaurants face being wiped out if further restrictions are brought in – with up to a million jobs on the line throughout the industry.
The company has already announced it plans on axing 130 head office roles following the coronavirus crisis.
Job losses since June 2020
MANY firms have announced job cuts since June as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. These include:
- Shoe chain Aldo collapsed into administration with five stores permanently closed
- Victoria's Secret plunged into administration, putting 800 jobs at risk
- Fashion chain Quiz put its shop business into administration in , putting 82 stores at risk
- British Gas owners cuts 5,000 jobs, over half of which will be in management
- Airbus announces 1,700 job losses. It expects cuts to be made by summer 2021
- TM Lewin says it will close all 66 of its UK shops, putting 600 jobs at risk
- Harveys Furniture goes into administration resulting in 240 immdiate job losses and puts another 1,000 at risk
- Upper Crust plans to make 5,000 out of its 9,000-strong workforce redundant
- EasyJet says it plans to close hubs at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle, putting 4,500 jobs at risk
- John Lewis is reported to be planning to cut jobs and permanently close department stores
- Harrods has said it is consulting on cutting 680 jobs
- Virgin Money, which owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, will cut 300 jobs
- Topshop owner Arcadia has announced plans to cut 500 office staff
- Royal Mail is expected to cut 2,000 jobs as a result of coronavirus
- BMW and Mini have announced they will axe 520 jobs at Birmingham, Oxford and Swindon plants
- Pret a Manger is cutting 2,800 jobs with 30 stores to close
- Costa Coffee is axing 1,650 jobs - it hasn't announced any store closures at this stage
- Gatwick has announced plans to cut 600 jobs, around 25% of its workforce.
- Heathrow is asking 2,500 workers to accept hefty pay cuts or half may lose jobs.
- Hays travel has announced 878 employees out of 4,500 could lose their jobs.
- London City Airport will axe 239 jobs as part of a major restructure.
The latest job cuts are in addition to the head office roles previously announced.
Pubs have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic with all boozers across the UK being forced to temporarily close on March 20.
Wetherspoons reopened 750 of its branches on July 4 in England, followed by more of its boozers reopening on July 13 in Wales and July 15 in Scotland.
The company will now start a consultation process with affected employees.
A spokesperson told The Sun that the types of roles that are at risk "are still to be discussed".
But Wetherspoons hopes a large number of the job cuts will come from voluntary redundancies.
What are my redundancy rights?
BEFORE making you unemployed, your employer should still carry out a fair redundancy process.
You are entitled to be consulted on the redundancy lay-off first and to receive a statutory redundancy payment, as long as you've been working somewhere for at least two years.
How much you're entitled to depends on your age and length of service, although this is capped at 20 years. You'll get:
- Half a week’s pay for each full year you were under 22,
- One week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41,
- One and half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older.
Sadly, you won't be entitled to a payout if you've been working for your employer for fewer than two years.
There should be a period of collective consultation as well as time for individual ones if your employer wants to make 20 or more employees redundant within 90 days or each other.
You are also entitled to appeal the decision by claiming unfair dismissal within three months of being let go.
Wetherspoons employs around 43,000 people in the UK.
It comes as rival company Whitbread, which owns Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Premier Inn, announced plans to cut 6,000 jobs.
Wetherspoons chief executive John Hutson said: "The decision is mainly a result of a downturn in trade in these pubs, linked with the large reduction in passenger numbers using the airports.
"We should emphasise that no firm decisions have been made at this stage.
"Wetherspoons is proposing to collectively consult with employees through an employment representative committee, which will be established for this purpose."
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The announcement comes just days before Wetherspoons is to cut food and drink prices by 7.5% this Thursday, September 24.
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Many prices at 'Spoons have already been slashed by up to 28% following a VAT holiday announced by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak in July.
The temporary break sees VAT cut down from 20% to 5% to help the two of the industries worst hit by the coronavirus crisis bounce back.