Housekeepers at Radisson Blu Canary Wharf are set to walk out at the end of this week in the first hotel workers’ strike in England in 46 years.
The hotel staff will be joined by bar staff from Draughts, London’s popular board games café and restaurant on Saturday 9 August.
The trade union United Voices of the World (UVW) have called it a “defining moment for the UK labour movement” as the first hotel workers’ strike since 1979.
Workers at both workplaces voted 100 per cent in favour of strike action.
According to UVW, Radisson Blu housekeepers are outsourced by WGC (formerly Windowgleam Company), who pay them £13 per hour – an amount below the London Living Wage of £13.85 per hour. The union also notes a reduction in contracted hours from 40 to as few as 16 per week, while daily room quotas have nearly doubled from 14 to 24.
The union said workers find these conditions are unsustainable and are demanding a return to 40 guaranteed hours per week, as well as the London Living Wage.
Draughts Bar staff are “fighting against exploitative, and insecure working conditions” including zero-hour contracts, last-minute shift cancellations and a fall in their earnings due to the replacement of table service with QR code ordering, according to UVW.
Petros Elia, general secretary at UVW, said: “This strike is a historic turning point—hotel housekeepers, alongside bar staff, are taking collective action for the first time in over 46 years.
“They’re standing up to poverty wages, zero hour contracts, excessive workloads, and the deep-rooted precarity that defines much of the hospitality industry.
“This fight goes beyond pay. It’s a stand against a system that exploits migrant workers, women, and Black and brown workers, those who keep the industry running while being treated as disposable.”
The Independent has contacted WGC, Radisson Blu and Draughts for comment.
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