Megaphone Petition on Behalf of TGI Friday’s Abruptly Laid Off Workers

‘Below is a message from Unite Hospitality 

Last month, TGI Friday’s closed 35 of their UK restaurants leaving over 1000 workers out of a job with just an hours notice! Unite Hospitality and their members have already won £££s in unpaid wages, holiday pay and tips. But they are still owed notice pay, redundancy, compensation and access to their possessions that are still locked up at work! But to win, they need the public to pile the pressure on TGI Friday’s, the Administrators and the Government! 

Read more below and add your name to their petition!

Dear David,

On Monday October 7th, over 1000 hard-working and loyal TGI Friday’s workers were terminated with less than an hours’ notice. 35 sites across the company were padlocked and workers locked out of their workplaces. 

Staff were terminated without notice or consultation. They were owed thousands in wages, holiday, tips, notice pay and redundancy. They were given 57 minutes notice of a call many could not attend to be told by CEO Julie McEwan that their jobs were gone. 

One month on, and the workers are still fighting for their basic rights!

With support from their trade union, Unite Hospitality, the workers have now recovered wages, holiday pay and tips that they were told days previously would not be paid by the company

But the fight is not over.  

Significant numbers of ex-TGI Friday’s staff have been short-changed on their payments. And despite assurances from administators Teneo, the workers continue to be locked out of sites & can’t retrieve their belongings.

The workers deserve better than this. 

We’re calling on TGI Friday’s to pay up what is fair to workers who have lost their job.

Please take a moment to sign and share our petition today.

Take me to the petition 

Senior management at TGI Friday’s knew the company was in difficulty for some time, but chose not to carry out meaningful redundancy consultations in good faith.

They chose to let the company sink and let the government insolvency service pick up the tab for £millions in severance packages.

We know that big chains like TGI Fridays’ are motivated by the profit generated from customers. We need to make a big noise to show the CEO, the Administrator, and the Government that the public aren’t happy with what’s gone down. 

Can you sign our petition demanding that TGI Friday’s CEO, Julie McEwan, gives our sacked members what they’re owed!

Thank you for standing up for low paid hospitality workers.

Bryan Simpson,

Unite Hospitality

via Megaphone UK’

Open Britain – Is MAGA Collapsing?

’16/08/24

80 Days to go until the US election.

Dear David,

Per our new Friday tradition, I’m once again going to dive into the political news from the States. For better or for worse, US politics has a massive impact on what happens here in the UK and around the world. The decision American voters take on November 4th – and the potential political violence that could come after – will shape our own fight for democracy here at home in myriad ways. So let’s get into it.

If this kind of thing is not for you, don’t worry. You can opt out here.

Is MAGA Melting Down?

It’s only August 16th, and this election cycle has already been full of surprises. Just a month ago, Donald Trump was ascendant in the polls and emboldened by an attempted assassination. MAGA seemed to be a cold and calculating political machine, delivering blow after blow to a beleaguered Joe Biden and jumping up in key swing state polls.

But the Democrats’ abrupt decision to shift their ticket seems to have caught the Republicans almost entirely off guard. They had put all their eggs in the “anti-Biden” basket, leaving them devoid of talking points and opposition research. Worse still, the Democrats’ rising momentum seems to be opening up internal feuds within MAGA, revealing the cracks in their facade.

Republican party campaigners have expressed concerns that Trump is self-sabotaging, accusing him of entering a “self-destructive spiral” since Biden dropped out.  His usual name-calling strategies (questioning Kamala Harris’ racial background, and calling her stupid) are not working in the eyes of his own strategists, and his repeated feuds with Republican swing-state governors like Georgia’s Brian Kemp are making the party look chaotic and amateurish.

Let’s also not forget that Trump was found guilty in May of falsifying business records in an attempt to conceal a hush-money payment to a porn star. His new gambit has been to try and delay sentencing until after the election, arguing that it would amount to “election interference.”

Then there’s the small matter of JD Vance. While conventional wisdom holds that Vice-Presidential picks don’t matter all that much, Trump has had a very light campaign event schedule, often leaving his VP pick to do his talking for him. Vance, a charisma blackhole with views that are polarising even to ardent right-wingers, is only further alienating the campaign from regular people.

A series of incredibly cringey “X” features with Elon Musk, including a weird sycophantic (and technologically disastrous) digital interview and a dumb AI deep-fake video of the two billionaires dancing to “Stayin Alive”, showcase a campaign that has all but lost its populist allure.

As I said at the beginning though, it’s only August 16th. Anything could happen in the next few months. But we do seem to be witnessing a turning point in Trump’s strategy, and the same old 2016 campaign tricks just don’t seem like they’re going to work again.

In other US election news…

• The Democratic National Convention kicks off next week, set to be a huge make-or-break moment for the Harris/Walz ticket and their momentum.
• Trump’s campaign have accused Harris of “stealing” a proposal for ending taxes on tips – many service industry workers in America are paid around $2/hour and rely mostly on tips.
• Debate season is nearly upon us, with Harris-Trump facing off on September 10th and Walz-Vance going head to head on October 1st.

That’s it for this week.

All the best,

Matt Gallagher

Communications Officer

Open Britain Team’