JD Wetherspoon rebuffs TUC accusation of being low-pay employer
The pub chain has cited its recognition as a top employer for 19 years, which has been certified by the Top Employers Institute
JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin has hit back at comments made by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) head Paul Nowak, which called the pub chain an employer that has “built its business model on low-paid insecure employment”.
The rebuttal comes after The Telegraph published an interview with Nowak on Sunday (14 July), in which he criticised the likes of Amazon, JD Wetherspoon, Sports Direct and P&O Ferries for being “anti-union employers”.
In a new statement, Wetherspoon has called TUC’s criticism of its business model and employment style “completely inaccurate and unjustified”, saying that all staff are offered guaranteed minimum hours contracts – of which 96.9% have accepted.
The pub chain has cited its recognition as a top employer for 19 years, which has been certified by the Top Employers Institute.
Meanwhile, the group maintains that it has enjoyed its highest ever level of staff retention, with 11,066 of its 42,854 members of staff having worked for JD Wetherspoon for five years or more.
In addition, Wetherspoon revealed that £504m has been paid to employees in free shares and bonuses since 2007, and has stated that some 15,778 employees are currently shareholders of the company.
Martin said: “If people in powerful positions, such as Paul Nowak, make serious allegations, which have absolutely no basis in fact, it will deter business investment in the UK.
“Investment is a primary generator of growth which, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer has recently said, is the number one objective of the government.”
Yesterday (15 July), the TUC published the findings of a poll of more than 3,000 voters on the day after the election, which showed large-scale backing across the political spectrum for Labour’s flagship workers’ rights programme.
Commenting on the poll, Nowak said: “British voters across the political spectrum want work to pay and to feel secure and respected in their jobs. Labour’s workers’ rights plans are hugely popular, and this poll should give ministers confidence to get on with delivering them in full.
“Working people want a government that is on their side and that will improve the quality of work in this country.”
He added: After 14 years of stagnating living standards, the UK needs to turn the page on our low-rights, low-pay economy that has allowed good employers to be undercut by the bad. It’s time to make the country work for working people again.”
