"The posh club v its workers: this low-pay battle says a lot about Britain", 18 July 2019

...while royals and Hollywood A-listers party, kitchen porters spend hours...cleaning kitchens on poverty pay...Until a campaign began, the porters were paid a derisory £8.65 an hour, nearly £2 below the London living wage...Under pressure, the club was forced to offer a 35p hike, but it is still far short...Lacking occupational sick pay, staff are paid nothing for the first three days of illness, and just £94.25 a week thereafter...they are allowed an unpaid 20-minute break, but even that can be impossible when the club is busy..

When the club recently outsourced its kitchen porters to ACT Clean – which has refused to comment – staff were threatened with dismissal if they didn’t sign a contract undermining already measly terms and conditions. Five resigned. But nearly half of the 19 kitchen porters joined the IWGB, which has played a critical role in organising migrant workers in particular in precarious work...

The club...is “proud that all of our employees, including our kitchen porters, are paid well above the government’s minimum wage and, indeed, well above the industry average” and that workers have “access to a range of other benefits”...It accuses the IWGB of not bothering to seek recognition and of “hypocrisy” for not focusing on lower wages elsewhere, and says that the club conducts its “business in an entirely legal manner”