A Galway late venue has closed without paying staff in what seems to be becoming standard practice in the hospitality industry.
The Bentley, a late venue in the heart of Galway city was reopened following it’s closure in 2012 (then known as Cuba) by Mayo brothers Shane & and James Broderick. Shane is a doctor in UHG (Galway Regional) while James is a pharmacist in the city. They told staff that the venue was closing temporarily and would reopen in late January. One young barman of the 30 staff to lose weeks of pay told the Connacht Tribune:
“They told us that they would be opening again on January 20. So we were all hoping our jobs were still there. But they haven’t been answering our calls in recent days and we found out through either Facebook on Wednesday night or a ‘For Auction’ sign outside the club that our jobs were gone.”
This practice of welshing on employees wages (and in other cases major debts to creditors) has become the norm, it seems, as limited companies open and fold while the ‘owners’ of the venues sometimes walk out one door and back in the other with a rebranding and are immune from prosecution.
Update
To show the former employees solidarity follow their Facebook here. For more from the Connacht Tribune see here.
We’ve covered similar stories elsewhere, for example this classic from Dublin.
h/t to We’re Not Leaving (youth employment activists) see here.
Comments
disgrace.
Clíodhna Walsh
They shouldn’t have been on Facebook during work hours. Fair play to the management, it’s the modern way of making announcements.
Pat, nowhere in that piece does it say they were on Facebook during work hours. And do you honestly think it’s ok to have so little respect for your staff that you can’t sit down with them and tell them the truth?
These 2 Broderick clowns houses should be picketed. maybe binging the shame to their doorsteps might help