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Press Release

Unite call time on long hour culture of pub managers

12 August 2009

Unite, the largest union in the country, is calling 'time' on the excessive hours culture in the UK's 9000 managed pubs.

Pub managers who are working up to 70 hours a week have been forced to retire early because of ill-health.

Unite, which represents 35,000 members in the brewery and pub industry has launched the 'pub industry manifesto' to limit the working week of managers to a maximum 48 hour week inline with the European Working Time Directive, and receive a minimum of 25 days annual holiday.

Jennie Formby, Unite national officer for the hospitality sector, said: "Working excessive hours is the norm in the industry, and pub managers now have the dubious honour of working longer hours than any other group of employees in the UK.

"Working 60-70 hours a week is just not acceptable and the health of our members is suffering.

"Unite officials have reported a significant increase in cases of retirement due to ill health over recent years as PubCos, a group of pubs owned by a single company, cut costs forcing managers to operate with fewer staff.

"But this doesn't have to be the case and Unite is proud of its record of supporting managers challenging this issue."

Dave Daly, Licensees Unite national committee member, who has represented many such managers said: "I recently supported a Lancashire couple in taking a case to tribunal over the long hours they were expected to work, using the Working Time Directive regulations, which state you cannot be forced to work longer than 48 hours per week. We won a substantial award for our members and this is just one case out of many."

While Unite is willing to continue to take such cases to tribunal, the union believes it should not be necessary. PubCos should adopt stringent minimum standards within the industry for all their employees, including other health and safety issues, in particular violence at work.

Jennie Formby added: "We believe the only way forward for pub managers and staff is for the PubCos to work with Unite and our members and negotiate on all these important issues.

"There has quite rightly been a strong focus in recent months on the massive problems facing tenants but we must not forget the many thousands of workers in the 9,000 plus pubs in the UK who need us today more than ever before."



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