Bar staff still unsure how wages will drop
PUB workers are waiting to find out what the Tier 3 lockdown means for their pay packets.
In the busy Raven Hotel, barmaid Janet Phillips was rushed off her feet.
Janet, 57, earns £8.72 an hour, working an average of around 20 hours per week.
She says cutting furlough payments from 80% of salaries during the national lockdown, to just two-thirds “is a big drop”.
She adds: “I will have less money and a more uncertain future. It is going to hurt.”
But all four of her children have left home and her husband works full-time in a factory.
In the pub’s kitchen, chef John Fairhurst was preparing a tray of delicious steak and ale pies.
John, 65, works full time and is worried about having his income slashed by a third.
He has Christmas presents to buy for nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
His wife Rose has already had her hours in a local cafe slashed. John says: “I don’t know
PULLING WEIGHT Worried Janet Phillips
exactly what it is going to cost me but I am worried, it is my living. It is not as bad for me as it is for some of the bar staff.
“They are all young ‘uns. They have all got rents to pay. I fear for them.
“There is no proof the pubs are causing all this. Pubs are doing all they can, they are cleaning, there is waitress service. I think it all kicked off again when the kids went back to school, that’s when the rate started going back up.”
Landlady Tina Barlow, 56, says a temporary closure is not the end of the world for the pub.
She says moving from Tier 2 to Tier 3 could be better for the business because of the promise of financial support, though it is unclear exactly what they will be offered.
She says: “I’m not happy but I think it is the best of a bad situation.
“At least this way it will protect staff jobs and that is my main concern. We need to do something about the infection rate.”