Hospitality businesses express disappointment at industrial action

Hospitality businesses in York & North Yorkshire have today expressed disappointment about the news for further industrial action on our railways in the run up to Christmas.

Members of the Aslef union have this week confirmed that its members will stage a series of one-day strikes between Saturday December 2 and Friday December 8. There will also be an overtime ban between Friday December 1 and Saturday December 9.

In October, York & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce’s Hospitality Forum called upon both railway unions and politicians to ensure that no industrial action takes place over the Christmas period, the sector’s busiest period.

While the Forum does not intend to comment on the reasons behind the industrial action, it is urging all parties to do whatever they can to ensure that the crucial festive period is not disrupted by more strikes. Industry insiders have put the cost of these latest strikes as being as high as £800m nationally.

With the hospitality sector having endured so much in recent years, from forced closures to soaring overheads, the resultant decline in footfall brought about by strikes is hugely damaging to businesses, many of whom are looking to Christmas for a much-needed upswing in trade.
Andrew Pericleous, chair of the Hospitality Forum, said: “Christmas is the period in which hospitality does its highest levels of trade.

“These latest strikes will disrupt that and cost small business owners thousands of pounds in lost revenue. These are not large corporations, rather very small-scale employers that families rely upon for their livelihood.

“Given the scale of the impact, we urge the union to reconsider its plans for further strikes this December.”