Antic pub workers are threatening action after being told they will not get any extra pay for working throughout the Christmas bank holidays.
More than 100 Antic staff, a chain which includes the Gregorian in Bermondsey, East Dulwich Tavern, and John the Unicorn in Peckham, are petitioning to be paid double time rather than minimum wage on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
In a statement sent to the News, a spokesperson for the Unite union workers said the business’s ‘rapid expansion’ came at the expense of its staff.
But Antic boss Anthony Thomas, disputed some of the claims, telling the paper that only the East Dulwich Tavern would be open on Christmas day for ‘a few hours’, and workers would be paid time and a half on New Year’s eve.
“The nature of our industry is that we work when our patrons do not, and this includes weekends, late nights and bank holidays, so it is difficult to sustainably treat any of these days differently from each other,” he said.
“It is part and parcel of the business that we are in.”