Facts about the working conditions at the Hotel.

  1. The Edgbaston Park Hotel is a company set up by the University in July 2018 for profit-making purposes and to slash workers’ terms and conditions.
  2. The Hotel are refusing to recognise trade unions for the new staff, making it impossible for us to negotiate with management with and on behalf of the collective. These are union busting tactics which have no place in any workplace.
  3. In 2019, staff have had a pay rise of 1p/hour, so that their salaries match the new Minimum Wage rate (or Osborne’s so-called National Living Wage) of £8.21/hour (while all staff on campus are paid at least £9/hour). The University of Birmingham is refusing to seek Real Living Wage Accreditation, which would ensure that all suppliers and partners would need to pay at least the RLW rate.
  4. The terms and conditions for new staff, as well as access to benefits (such as Occupational Health support, parking, the Sports Centre) are substantially worse compared to the conditions of anyone else who is employed directly by the University.
  5. The hotel does not offer any contractual sick pay at all until staff have been in post for a year. The maximum you can get (after working there for three years) is 15 days of sick pay. This contrasts with a total of six months sick pay for support staff at the University who’ve been in post for six months and have passed their probation period.
  6. There is no enhanced rate for overtime or bank holiday working.
  7. All working hours include bank holidays and weekends. Working hours are not fixed at all either and managers change the number of hours you work at short notice.
  8. Staff only receive the statutory minimum of 28 days leave.
  9. You need to tell the Hotel if you have another job and they have the right to object to this.
  10. The Hotel use fingerprint devices for clocking in and out.
  11. The Edgbaston Park Hotel are being inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst when on the one hand, they insist that they are a separate entity from the University, while at the same time they are relying on its services, reputation and image, and most Hotel decisions need to be vetted by University departments. The company’s board includes University of Birmingham Directors, including UoB’s finance director who is also a member of the University’s Executive Board (Erica Conway).
  12. Although they are contracted for a set number of hours/week (full-time roles entail 40 hours of work/week), staff are being told to go home or not to come into work at very short notice. They are not being paid for the work they are contracted to do, and their pay is docked as a result.
  13. Staff have complained that the Hotel are using cheaper products and are not receiving appropriate training to understand how to use them, and what risks they are exposing themselves to.
  14. Hotel staff do not have access to the same benefits as staff employed directly by the University (because the University considers Hotel staff as ‘external’ to the institution when it is convenient to them).

15. Staff directly employed by the University of Birmingham have 6 months sick pay after 6 months of service. Outsourced Edgbaston Park Hotel staff have 15 days of sick pay after 3 years of service.

16. Staff directly employed by the University of Birmingham are paid at least £9/hour. Outsourced Edgbaston Park Hotel staff have had a 1p/hour pay rise in 2019, to bring their wages ‘up’ to £8.21/hour!

17. Staff directly employed by the University of Birmingham have union recognition and can collectively bargain for better pay, equality, and improved working conditions. Outsourced Edgbaston Park Hotel’s senior management (among whom are UoB senior managers!) are refusing to recognise unions for new staff.

18. Staff directly employed by the University of Birmingham are given 3 months’ notice if they are made redundant. Outsourced Edgbaston Park Hotel staff are given 2 weeks’ notice if they are made redundant.