According to the statistics provided by Pret A Manger to PAMSU on 12^th June 2012, 91% of Pret’s workforce are immigrants.

Appendix 3.2.1 Nationality list per shop at 12 June 2012

Out of 3,386 employees, 307 employees stated that they had British nationality and 89 stated that they were of white ethnic origin which is less than 3% of the workforce. Yet, this 3% controls positions such as general manager, area manager or operations manager, not mentioning Pret human resources which employs exclusively white British employees.

It is clear that Pret a Manger prefers to hire foreign workforce rather than British workforce. PAMSU believes that the reason for this selective recruitment approach is that Pret can much easily exploit foreigners than British people. Foreigners are more vulnerable as English is not their native language and they are not familiar with the legal system in the UK. That makes them perfect employees for companies like Pret.

Occasionally, some of the Pret employees can’t stand the bullying and stand up for their rights. This is what happened in Pret St Pancras branch on 1^st September 2012 when 5 employees (surprisingly all foreigners) formed the Pret A Manger Staff Union to fight for their basic rights such as being treated with respect and dignity or having access to their payslips and being paid the wages they deserved.

09-01-12 List of Demands

And we all know how Pret responded to their initiative. 3 out of those 5 employees don’t work for Pret anymore.

Pret A Manger, Stop union-busting! Treat your staff with respect and dignity!

No pasarán!

Andrej’s appeal hearing only lasted 40 minutes. His representative presented evidence proving that Andrej was dismissed unfairly. Part of this evidence are two statements from Andrej’s colleagues claiming that he was sacked based on malicious grievance that was raised by a manager who was instructing staff to break Pret’s food safety standards.

At the end of the hearing, Andrej was asked why he thinks he was sacked. He responded:

“I was victimized for Whistle-blowing and establishing the Pret A Manger Staff Union.”

The outcome of the appeal should be released on 7^th December 2012.

Huge thanks to all of you who who helped organize and took part in the two day Communications Blockade.

No pasaran!

Since forming Pret a Manger Staff Union earlier this year, Andrej and a number of other workplace activists have faced a campaign of harassment and victimisation from management.  For Andrej, this has reached a point where he has been sacked on trumped-up disciplinary charges.  His final appeal hearing against the decision will occur on Thursday the 29th of November at 2:00pm.

PAMSU together with the North London Solidarity Federation, the Alliance for Workers Liberty and Radical Islington call for the Communications Blockade on Wednesday 28th November 2012.

In an effort to show solidarity with Andrej and PAMSU, we are asking the supporters:

Bombard Pret’s Facebook page with messages in support of Andrej: http://www.facebook.com/pretamanger

Feel free to post up this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey2PAGB29B8

If you’re on Twitter, please tweet and re-tweet the following message throughout the day:

“@Pret Reinstate Andrej!  Stop Union-Busting at Pret a Manger!  More information: www.pamsu.org  Please re-tweet!!! #PAMSU”

Many thanks! No pasarán!

On Monday 19^th November 2012, PAMSU  - with support from Solidarity Federation, Bloomsbury Fightback, The Alliance for Workers Liberty, and Industrial Workers of the World – organized a demonstration outside Pret A Manger shops in St Pancras International Station and York Way. The reason why PAMSU decided to protest is victimization of its founding members Andrej and Rodrigo. Big thanks to all supporters who came over on Monday! No pasarán!

Workers at the St. Pancras Station outlet of chain sandwich shop Pret A Manger are facing intimidation and victimisation for organising a trade union in the store.

A group of workers began organising in August 2012, around a series of ongoing grievances including non-payment, late notification of shift changes, bullying by managers, and being given fewer hours than their stated contracts. A petition around these demands was signed by nearly half of all staff working in the store.

10-09-12 Petition – Unfair Treatment

Almost straight away, key organisers found themselves victimised. One worker was given a disciplinary hearing for an “unauthorised absence”, even though he had been off sick and phoned the store to inform them. The hearing was deliberately scheduled for after the Olympics so the worker could be kept on during the busy Olympic period. Eventually, the worker was given a final warning and transferred to another store.

The Pret A Manger Staff Union (PAMSU) was formally established on 1st September 2012. Two weeks later, leading organiser Andrej Stopa found himself facing disciplinary charges for events which took place in January 2012. The date of the hearing was moved several times, and finally rearranged at 24-hours notice, meaning Andrej was unable to attend. As a result, he was fired.

10-10-12 Petition – Unfair Dismissal

Other members of the union also faced systematic intimidation, including one member who was given a full-time contract along with a “strong recommendation” that he leave the union, and who was told that his grievances would be better dealt with if he pursued them “informally”.

Andrej says that although his dismissal intimidated the staff in St Pancras branch, the new Pret employees are joining the union every day from different branches of Pret A Manger.

Andrej has appealed his dismissal. The appeal hearing will take place on 29th November 2012 at 14.00 outside Pret’s Headquarters in Victoria. Feel free to come over to support Andrej! No pasarán!

Article by Dan Randall