Glasgow music venue workers win employment tribunal – BBC News

Former staff of a Glasgow music venue have won an employment tribunal nine months after its closure.

The 13th Note on the city’s King Street went into voluntary liquidation in July after workers staged a strike over pay and safety concerns.

A judge found that the business broke trade union laws and had proposed to dismiss more than 20 employees with less than 90 days notice.

The owner has been ordered to pay the employees 90 days worth of wages.

The tribunal ruled that Jaqueline Fennessy failed to elect and consult with employee representatives on the redundancy process.

Workers were later made redundant when the venue closed.

Unite Hospitality union members at the 13th Note staged a 48-hour strike and had planned to do so on further weekends.

The group had hoped to secure better wages, improvements to health and safety and trade union recognition.

But within a week of the first strike, the venue went into voluntary liquidation.

Nick Troy, lead Unite representative at The 13th Note said: “We unionised to win a fairer and safer workplace at The 13th Note but Jacqueline Fennessy did everything she could to stop us, including closing our workplace.

“With legal justice, we can now turn our focus onto taking the venue back into worker’s hands so that Glasgow has a unionised bar and music venue that pays and treats its workers with respect.”

The workers hope to take over the 13th Note lease from Glasgow City Council and reopen it under new ownership.

Ms Fennessy previously said she was “devastated” at the venue closing and claimed it was “driven to insolvency” by Unite Hospitality.

She said the challenges of running an independent hospitality venue after the pandemic were considerable.

Ms Fennessy insisted there were no health and safety issues and that staff were paid above the living wage.

The venue had been closed in June 2023 by environmental health due to a mouse infestation, but was cleared to reopen days later.

Bryan Simpson, Unite’s lead hospitality organiser, said the union was “delighted” that the workers had won maximum compensation at the tribunal

He said: “The judgement is complete vindication for the workers who unionised in the face of shocking conditions which saw the venue closed down by environmental health.

“The mass redundancy came three days after workers took historic strike action in one of the most blatant examples of trade union victimisation I’ve ever seen.”

Ms Fennessy has been approached for comment.