It’s rare to get strikes in hotels, and this victory can help pave the way for unionising in the industry argues Eilidh Stewart

Young workers at Glasgow’s Village Hotel have been out on strike between 3-22 August, in a dispute about fair wages for all ages, being paid the Real Living Wage and a lack of breaks. As previously reported, this is the first strike at a major hotel chain in 46 years and will hopefully set a precedent within the sector for workers to organise and take collective action.

The strike has just come to an end after three weeks of continuous action, with some major wins. Workers have succeeded in achieving a 10% pay rise for the youngest workers, backdated to 1 April 2024, a four-hundred pound payment for workers over 21 who did not benefit from the equal-pay uplift, and the replacement of exploitative and precarious zero-hour contracts with minimum-hour contracts. On top of these huge wins, Village Hotels will cover all tax and National Insurance: an unprecedented move which will further benefit the workers.

These wins cannot be understated. The workers, mainly aged under 21, have not only taken successful strike action in an industry which is notoriously difficult to organise and sees low union representation, they have organised against a hotel owned by the biggest asset manager in the world: Blackstone. Blackstone, a company which pledged $7 million to Israel in 2023 and donated $125 million to Tel Aviv University’s medical school in 2025 amid the ongoing genocide, was not willing to pay its workers the 39p pay rise for which they were asking. However, these young workers did not let this deter them. They bravely stood up for their rights and took on this enormous company, winning thousands for some of the lowest-paid workers in the country, while gaining mass support and inspiring us all.

Further attesting to these workers’ resolve is their willingness to continue fighting for full equal pay and the real living wage. During the mega-picket on Friday, Daniel, the Unite representative at the hotel, stated:  ‘We’re not finished here … we’ve not won the war yet we’ve only won a battle. Our pursuit of a workplace that is genuinely and firmly equal goes on until we don’t have these discriminatory pay differentials and people are genuinely treated equally and receive equal pay for equal work.’

The picket was also attended by Jeremy Corbyn who congratulated the workers and spoke to the inspiration this achievement will have on so many other workers across the country: ‘Your victory here today is an example to so many others, think about all the other workers in hospitality all over Scotland … all over, everywhere else, will look at this and say wow, it can be done, you can win, but it has to be done by being united.’

Corbyn also gave a rallying call to other workers in the sector: ‘If you are working in hospitality, hotels, catering, whatever form it happens to be and you feel your conditions are poor, you feel you’re exploited … and all the other pressures that you are often put under, then do two things: one is join a union … and when you’ve joined the union, make sure the union works for you and not you work for the union.’

As highlighted by Corbyn, the victory of these workers will be an inspiration to many and hopefully cause a rippling effect throughout the country. Young workers organised in a highly precarious sector with low rates of unionisation won against a company with over £1 trillion in assets. Not only did they win, they are committed to continuing the fight. This is a huge win for the workers, for Unite, for the hospitality and hotel sector and for the whole of the working class and labour movement.

Congratulations to the Village Hotel workers and solidarity in continuing the fight.

From this month’s Counterfire freesheet

Before you go

The ongoing genocide in Gaza, Starmer’s austerity and the danger of a resurgent far right demonstrate the urgent need for socialist organisation and ideas. Counterfire has been central to the Palestine revolt and we are committed to building mass, united movements of resistance. Become a member today and join the fightback.