Hospitality giant slammed over plans to ‘axe more than 200 Scottish jobs’

A TRADE union has blasted a popular pub chain over its plans to axe 200 jobs across Scotland.

Hospitality giant Whitbread announced a major shake-up which could see more than a thousand jobs slashed across the UK back in April.

Set to close dozens of branches in Scotland, the firm have faced backlash for the move.

The brand, who own chains such as Beefeater, Brewer’s Fayre and Premier Inn, is planning to scrap its chain of eateries in favour of building more hotel rooms.

Bosses plan to convert 112 of their restaurants into hotel extensions.

With redundancies taking place as soon as July 4, Unite trade union have slammed the hospitality firm for not properly informing their workers.

Union bosses claim that some workers found out about the news ‘via the media’.

The trade union are threatening to take the company to an employment tribunal for unfair dismal of the staff affected by the cuts.

Bryan Simpson, Lead Hospitality Organiser for Unite, said: “The way in which our members have been treated by Whitbread during this entire redundancy process is morally reprehensible.

“Our members found out about their jobs via the media on 30th April, however we have evidence which suggests that the company have been planning these redundancies since at least 1st December 2023, with some venues having contractors assess value of sold sites for over a year.

He added: “Despite refusing to answer questions from their workers and their union, the company now wishes to bulldoze through a consultation process which has been neither genuine nor meaningful with the first terminations happening on 4th July.

“As the union for Whitbread workers, we will be doing everything we can to challenge these unnecessary job losses – and win maximum compensation for our members who are unfairly dismissed.”

The cuts come after Whitbread’s pre-tax profit rose 21% to £452 million last year.