An emergency protest has been called to take place on Wednesday afternoon
Queen’s University Belfast(Image: Justin Kernoghan/Belfast Live)
Unite Hospitality workers have called for an emergency protest against café closures by Clements at Queen’s University in South Belfast.
The protest was announced after Clements proposed closing its four outlets at Queen’s Belfast which would result in the loss of over 30 jobs.
The Unite union, which represents the majority of workers is challenging management on the way workers are already being directed towards the Redundancy Payments Service. They said this raises the prospect of taxpayers picking up the bill for redundancies.
The protest will take place at Lanyon Gates, Queens University campus, Belfast on Wednesday afternoon from 5.30pm.
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A Unite spokesman said that management is refusing to engage in meaningful collective consultation with the union. The union met with Queens University to raise the workers’ concerns last Friday.
Speaking ahead of the protest, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Clements is acting like a rogue employer. It’s trying to shut up shop, avoid proper consultation and simply walk away from its responsibilities. That is totally unacceptable to Unite. “
Unite regional officer Neil Moore added: “It is intolerable that our members will lose their jobs today only for the same cafés to reopen in a few months with new staff. Some of these workers have been in these posts for years but are now being treated as disposable by Clements.
“Queens university controls what happens next – whether these cafés reopen, who operates them and on what terms. It needs to intervene to protect jobs through either insourcing this important service or ensuring a future operator takes on the existing staff.
“Our members are deeply angered over what is happening and are considering all their options.”
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