Manchester IWW is supporting three ex-employees of the Wilde and Well Read café in Lancaster, wrongly denied over £1,000 wages for work they carried out over the past few months.

Our communications zap last weekend successfully pushed the proprietor, Lee Smith, into picking up contact with the IWW (and removing his business from Facebook). So far, he’s saying “the [ex-workers] are not getting paid anything”, and calling them “disingenuous”, “reprobates”, “thieves” and “scum” — so we’re coordinating another on-line action for tomorrow, Saturday 21st January, to demand that Lee pays the workers what they’re due:

COMMS ZAP: unpaid wages at Wilde and Well Read

Sadly, wage theft and other abuses are widespread in the hospitality industry, and since the introduction of steep fees for employment tribunal claims in 2013, it’s even
harder to right these wrongs using the legal system — but IWW members know that direct action gets the goods!

We are prepared to continue our fight against bullying and exploitation for as long as it takes to get justice for Wilde and Well Read‘s ex-workers. If you have any further information or would like to get involved with the campaign, contact manchester [at] iww [dot] org [dot] uk.