Euan Stainbank

I declare an interest as a former barman, a former waiter, a former pie seller and someone who has done essentially every front-of-house job—except chef, unfortunately. I come at today’s debate from the position of a former hospitality worker. It might be slightly over three years since I last pulled a pint, but I have to say that in debates such as this, the insight from hospitality workers is oddly missing. Hospitality is a hard job, and it can be rewarding. I made lifelong friendships through the 14 or 15-hour back-to-back wedding shifts that I pulled to get myself through university, but hospitality is often treated corrosively as a secondary, less-worthwhile occupation. That completely wrong-headed perspective is dripping off the pages of the Opposition’s motion today. It says that we must “amend the Employment Rights Bill to protect seasonal and flexible employment practices”. What that says to the 3.5 million hospitality workers in this country—it is the third largest sector in the UK—is that they should be part of a two-tier workforce and have less employment rights than every other worker. Which rights should hospitality workers be excluded from? Should they be able to be sacked in the first two years of employment for no good reason? Should they be disqualified from parity in sick pay? Should they not be entitled to a contract that reflects their hours worked? The motion states that if someone works behind a bar, they should be entitled to fewer rights than those who work behind a desk. I would like to draw attention of the House to the recent victory of the young unionised workers at the Village hotel in Govan. These hospitality workers won a pay rise, backdated to 1 April 2024, on the terms of equal pay regardless of age. Young workers brought their employer to the table and, in a cost of living crisis, it will now value the value of their labour properly. Thanks to the universality of the Employment Rights Bill and the collective action of the workforce in hospitality, the era of poverty pay and contractual insecurity, which has been rife in the sector, will come to an end. Today’s motion sets a targeted approach: to bring that era back just for the people who keep our hard-working hospitality sector ticking. Not a pint is poured, nor a meal served or a single beat of music played, without the express permission of hospitality staff—a reminder for all of us in this House that the workers are the hospitality sector. I will be proud to stand up today for my pals I worked beside in hospitality, who do essential, hard, skilled work, which this motion seeks to dimmish by suggesting that those of us who make laws, instead of making beds, should weaken their employment rights today.