Ambridge Socialist
25th April
Illegal P&O style sackings at Grey Gables. Update: lawyers no substitute for staff action
After the owner of Grey Gables Oliver Sterling claimed that the explosion at the hotel in early 2020 and the impact of COVID meant that he has had to take the decision to shut Grey Gables and sell it to a company fronted up by Mr Shah who has recently been staying at the hotel, a dispute with Grey Gables workers is brewing.
Grey Gables will not be sold as a going concern but will now close for at least 12 months and be relaunched as a new upmarket venue and eaterie for Borsetshire.
Grey Gables has more than 20 staff but Stirling made no attempt to consult with them or trade unions and did not provide for a statutory 30 day consultation period or file the appropriate HR1 form detailing the redundancies with the Government.
This is exactly the same behaviour as the rogue employer P&O used recently. It is illegal and Grey Gables workers will have a case for unfair dismissal. Roy Tucker threatened the new owner Adil Shah with Tribunal cases last Thursday.
It now seems that Tucker has employed a solicitor with a view to challenging the decision to shut Grey Gables without consultation and sack the workers.
‘Generous’ redundancy payments have been mentioned but it’s not clear whether, as with P&O, this will extend beyond the current statutory maximum capped at £17,130 for 20 or more years service. Shah told Roy Tucker that a ‘bonus’ would be paid on top of statutory redundancy, clearly with the aim of heading off legal proceedings. Certainly chef Ian believes he is in line for a substantial pay out.
Given that Sterling plans to close Grey Gables by early May and make people redundant the Ambridge Socialist calls on workers to occupy the building to stop closure. Their specific demands will no doubt need to be democratically discussed and agreed amongst the workforce and with Unite, where they are members.
Legal action, which will take time if it is to be pursued, is an important tool with which to threaten Oliver Sterling and Adil Shah but is no substitute for workers action now.
Ambridge Socialist Editor Keith Flett said, Oliver Stirling and Adil Shah cannot be allowed to get away with tossing long serving and loyal employees on the scrapheap at short notice and breaking the law in doing so. We think Grey Gables workers should occupy the hotel and seek a way forward that is acceptable to them. Legal action is an option but the best its likely to achieve is to order statutory redundancy to be paid. A Court could order the reinstatement of sacked workers but there is no way of implementing that if the owners resist. Rather compensation would be paid.
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