Poor odds for workers

Unite will be protesting outside bookmaker William Hill’s shops in London, Birkenhead, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Gloucester and Southampton on Friday (October 7), as part of a nationwide day of action against the gambling giant’s plans to slash shop managers’ pay by £6,000 a year on average.

Hundreds of long-serving and loyal shop managers and deputy managers working in the firm’s 2,400 betting shops face losing thousands of pounds in pay under the company’s re-structuring shake-up.

The gambling giant is currently consulting on proposals to replace the roles of shop manager and deputy manager with a new ‘customer experience manager’ with a corresponding £6,000 cut in pay on average.

The company, which is the UK’s largest operator, posting an operating profit of £190m last year, has faced strong criticism in the past for its practice of forcing staff to work in shops alone.

“The protesters will be calling on William Hill to stop the attack on workers’ pay, while urging workers to join Unite,” said Unite national officer Rhys McCarthy.

“Hundreds of loyal and hardworking shop managers and deputy managers face losing thousands of pounds in pay under plans which will see their wages shrink by about ÂŁ6,000 on average to between ÂŁ16,662 – ÂŁ20,721 a year.

“It’s very poor odds for our members, who are being asked to do the same job for less pay, and a far cry from the sizeable pay off  former top boss, James Henderson, is likely to walk away with for his two short years at the helm,” he added. “He earned a cool £2.3m in total in his two years as head of the gambling giant.

“A £6,000 a year pay cut is a huge amount of money to lose. It has left our members fearful for the future, deeply worried about how they will pay keep up with their mortgage repayments or pay the rent when the pay cut comes.

“It’s no way to treat hardworking and loyal employees,” McCarthy argued. “Now more than ever workers need strong trade unions like Unite on their side to stop profitable businesses like William Hill driving down wages and attacking their conditions.”

William Hill is the UK’s largest gambling operator, employing around 16,000 people with main offices in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Gibraltar. It has 2,370 betting shops and posted an operating profit of £190m in 2015.

The national protest will be staged at William Hill, 77 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4ET, from 12.30pm to 1.30pm.

Details for additional regional protests are:

• Southampton: 2pm – 3pm, William Hill, 164 High Street Southampton, Hampshire S014 2BT
• Birmingham: 12pm – 1pm, William Hill, 78 Bull Street Birmingham, B4 6AB
• Leeds: 10am – 12pm, William Hill, 22-23 Boar Lane, Leeds LS1 6EA
• Sheffield: 1pm – 2pm, William Hill, 5 Earl Street Sheffield S1 4PY
• Birkenhead: William Hill, 258 Grange Road, Birkenhead, CH41 6EB
• Liverpool: 12pm, William Hill, 11-13 Richmond Street Liverpool, L1 1EE
• Manchester: William Hill, 85 Piccadilly Manchester M1 2DA
• Gloucester: 12pm – 1pm, William Hill, 36 Westgate Street, Gloucester GL1 2NG