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Workers Vs Workers Beer Company

Neon Black | 02.09.2007 21:02 | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements

Servers who work at events with the Workers Beer Company have set up a union, in an attempt to protect ourselves from the creeping further influence of profit margins on our conditions.

The controversial leaflet. Management dispute the second section.
The controversial leaflet. Management dispute the second section.


For those who don't know, the Workers Beer Company was set up by Battersea and Wandsworth TUC in the mid-1980s, as a fundraising arm for campaigning activities. Since then, the company has grown to a large size, and provides workers for Glastonbury, Leeds and Reading (Carling Weekend), Tolpuddle, and various other festivals.

On the surface, it seems like servers have a decent deal. You get free entry, some free food and drink, and free camping space. The organisation you come with (I go with Merseyside Hazards & Environmental Centre, but unions, campaign groups and others are represented) gets £6.50 per hour for your labour, which is better than many bar workers are paid. But there are drawbacks. For a start, the average festival server is worked far harder than they would be in a pub, and we are entitled to only twenty minutes breaktime in a six hour shift. Or at least we thought that was an entitlement...

The essential contradiction behind the WBC is that it's based entirely on the exploitation of workers! The more servers are exploited, the more money is raised for campaigning against the exploitation of workers! Add a layer of paid bureaucrats to this mix and you get a structure resembling the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' in the Soviet Union! But hey, you get to see some bands, so it's just about worth it.

This year, however, it seems the screw has been tightened significantly.

On Thursday, 23rd August I arrived at Leeds festival to set up for the weekend, and already there were grumblings among servers who'd been at Glastonbury in June. I discussed the issues with a fellow server from Liverpool, who complained that there had been a serious health and safety lapse, and that following an incident where one group had openly touted for tips, we would ALL now have to hand our tips over to the WBC's Clause IV fund. I was disgusted to discover that the money was earmarked for the building of a school in Gambia. Now obviously I want children in Africa to be educated same as anyone, but then so does the entire western ruling class. There's nothing radical about that. With a postal strike on, I wondered aloud why the money wasn't being donated to the strikers. Anyway, fuck that, I wanted my money, to do with as I pleased (including paying £4 per stodgy meal in the WBC compound)!

At breakfast time on Friday, I was approached by my colleague from Liverpool, who had a bundle of leaflets explaining the situation to our fellow workers. I distributed a few dozen of them, and was quickly collared by a WBC manager. He asked me lots of questions in an aggressive manner, disputed my right to hand out leaflets containing info about an incident I'd not seen (therefore undermining the whole basis of trade unionism), and warning I was making myself "look like a tit".

I was on late shift, so I and a few others shuttled round all the beer tents, talking to individuals from each one, and asking them to provide a delegate to report on their conditions to a meeting on Saturday morning. As we passed each other in the fields, us troublemakers encouraged each other by shouting things like 'all power in the hands of the workers'. By evening, rumours were circulating that the managers had come to an agreement over tips, so I was able to enjoy Nine Inch Nails and Smashing Pumpkins satisfied that I'd put in a good day's activism.

Saturday morning bright and early saw the first meeting of the servers' union, with about ten people present. We discussed problems that had arisen from Friday's shift, for instance that some managers were refusing their workers the twenty minutes break, which they claimed was not officially part of our contract. Someone noticed that our staff t-shirts (normally provided by the WBC's own 'Ethical Threads'), were now being supplied by notorious union-busters Fruit Of The Loom. What's more, we'd been promised an announcement on tips by 9.30, and that time had been and gone. We decided that we would openly keep the tips, and force the WBC's hand on the issue.

We had our final Leeds meeting on Sunday, the main point of which was to organise for next year's festivals and getting an internet group going. There were about twenty of us this time, the word having got out further over the past twenty-four hours. It had even got out to our colleagues serving at the Reading festival, but because the server activists were in a tiny minority there, they'd reportedly been threatened with the police! Even at Leeds, some managers had STILL been giving servers grief over the tips! Someone pointed out that legally the WBC didn’t have a leg to stand on, because if someone gives an individual money over and above what they are paying, it is up to that individual what they want to do with it. We resolved to spread the word to all server groups who work for the WBC at any festival, so they can all send one delegate to meetings in the future, and therefore we will be setting the agenda rather than responding to the WBC's diktats.

With many of the servers being Thatcher's children, it was a first taste of workplace activism for some of us, so that was really positive. In fact, it was one of the highlights of my festival, but then most of the music wasn't up to much.

Neon Black
- Homepage: http://dreaming-neon-black.blogspot.com

Comments

Hide the following 20 comments

Over priced piss!

03.09.2007 06:15

If the WBC sold something of better quality, then I'd buy stuff off them at such events.

However I'd probably start going to these events again anyway if they were'nt such a total rip off, from the moment you buy your ticket.

Heard that small bottles of water were £2 at Leeds festival!

CAMRA Man


Nae mair Pish!

03.09.2007 07:14

I have worked for the WBC to donate funds to good causes but have never been able to ascertain who decides what their policy is on buying beer - the times I worked for them there were only cans, or overpriced US Budweiser fizzy piss brought in in tankers the size of petrol tankers - I have enquired several times why the WBC cannot buy locally produced wholesome beers that benefit the local ecenomy but never got any satisfactory answers as no-one seems to know the bureaucrats making the decisions - I've decided never to work for them again until someone can tell me who makes such decisions and on what criteria they are based

Nae Mair Pish!!

BeerWorker


good stuff

03.09.2007 12:41

Nice work! This is exactly the kind of thing that is needed. I did WB at Glastonbury and can confirm that WBC is extremely exploitative.. just having regular self-organised delegate meetings at festivals like you mentioned is a big step forward.

.


Yep

03.09.2007 13:21

The people who mentioned the beer we're forced to serve definitely have valid points. As far as I know, it's up to the festival organisers themselves which drinks are served, and at what price. Out of the festivals I've done, Leeds (along with Reading) is part of the 'Carling Weekend', so we were selling Carling at £3.30 a go! Similarly, I think Glastonbury has a deal with Budweiser. Both also now do Coca-Cola, which was ironically (considering their history of murdering Colombian trade unionists) introduced at the Tolpuddle festival.

Neon Black
- Homepage: http://dreaming-neon-black.blogspot.com


Completely agree that WBC need resistance

03.09.2007 14:19

For many years Brighton Anarchist Black Cross (and other ABC/anarchist prisoner support groups) raised funds for supporting prisoners by working at festivals with Workers Beer Company. A few years ago we ended up embroiled in a huge argument with them. After a season in which we noticed a lot more casualisation of the work, more managers and less workers, and a fair bit of generally getting messed about, one of our lot had a (private and slightly drunken) discussion with a speech giver from WBC. It was mainly over the fact that earlier on in that day, Carling had sent over a few Page 3 models to do some kind of photoshoot in our bar. In the course of this our server called the WBC hypocritical, not as a big insult, more to point out the fact that he was severly contradicting himself.

But the WBC bod took huge offense, coming round our tents the next morning to tell us he'd get us banned, which he then did. This was on the pretext of some investigation whether our group was a 'real' one. We replied with a string of letters, including testimonials from prisoners we support directly, and from other campaign and union groups, without getting much in the way of replies until after the next season was over, when we were finally told that if we retracted our criticisms then we would be 'allowed' back in. By then we were a bit fucked off to say the least so we decided not to kowtow and have carried on fundraising in other ways.

So, good to see WBC facing some resistance. They are a big business now, employing casualised labour under shit conditions in the name of trade unionism. It's pretty outrageous what they get away with.

brighton abc member
mail e-mail: brightonabc@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.brightonabc.org.uk


More grievances

03.09.2007 18:33

I've done WBC irregularly but the most recent time was noticably worse than 2 years back.

* The tent was put up badly and had no floor. After a day of rain servers were literally knee-deep in mud.
* The food vouchers could only be redeemed in one place (4 meals required), with no vegetarian option except "Chips without burger"
* We only got breakfast by sneaking into the "official" backstage
* One of the managers got punched by a punter
* After arriving, we were told that we were going to be doing a double shift, two breaks of 15 minutes over 9 busy hours
* Generally, the information flow was absymal
* as was the choice of beers we offered. They're really missing a trick selling shite when at the prices you get at a festival you could offer organic, local, ethical, any kind of stuff and still profit.

WBC is a good idea but hugely flawed in execution. Not much better than the members' car insurance deals and makes me wonder, given where most union political funds go, if it's actually propping up the Labour party.

Should be run as a co-op!

Workers Cider Co-op


Broaden it out

03.09.2007 20:43

Yeah, this is sorely needed, not just for the WBC servers but for all those bods who do stewarding at major events with their payment going to charities such as oxfam, greenpeace etc. These orgs have serious problems retaining stewards both during events and for future events because they treat them so poorly. There are also many problems for stewards who donate their time directly to festivals in return for a free ticket.

Problems can include things like:

- being expected to do an 8 hour shift overnight standing on top of a fire tower in the pouring rain
- inadequate breaks; shifts continuing for even longer when next shift fails to materialise
- not being fed / watered adequately, especially during said 8 hour shifts; also food not necessarily available at times shifts finish, or promises to feed stewards turning out to be one meal per shift worked
- whole teams of totally inexperienced stewards (because of poor retention), which can lead to unsafe working environment
- high drop-out rate means that the volunteer stewards who leave have to be replace by paid stewards, which totally defeats the object of the exercise
- stewards may have to wait ages to get their deposits refunded after the festival
- some events have failed to pay stewards who agreed to do extra shifts for cash
- appalling and bullying management style, usually threatening non-return of deposit (most events and orgs require this) if worker dares to question any working practices.
- and so on.

Big up to neonblack for highlighting this issue. Keep us informed.

mordis gruntlement


a suggestion

04.09.2007 10:30

I don't have the time top be involved in this, I hope you don't mind me making the suggestion, but on top of the workers organising, hows about creating an alternative? someone brushed on the idea of a workers coop earlier, Obviously it would be diificult to get into the major festivals selling beer, as this is dominated by WBC selling brands. But there are many smaller more independent festivals such as Shambala, beathearder Global village Peace Gathering etc who would welcome such an initiative. collectively we have the means and resources to do this. it could even be tied in with veggies, creating a bigger serving tent with music, films, talks etc. from the represented groups of workers.

I too have worked for WBC and thought they were shite.

fly Posters


Corporate Beer Company?

04.09.2007 10:36

Having worked at Glastonbury and Reading this year, I was amazed at how willingly servers (in any other context, thinking people) are prepared to wear the corporate colours of some piss-selling beer company or other and how unquestioningly people listen to the Workers Beer Company spiel-mongers at the meetings.

Why can't the WBC produce some stylish, ethically produced t-shirts for these workers to wear (maybe even with a daring and progressive slogan) and tell Carling and the rest of 'em, that if they don't like it, they can take their industrial drinking machines and total profit motive and fuck off?

We ARE the machinery, and we CAN shut it down.




Micky.

Micky Bakunin


Oh, the irony!

04.09.2007 16:04

The irony of all this is that is we do win significant concessions without getting blacklisted, then Carling and Glastonbury and all the others will just stop the WBC's contract and employ people for £5.35 an hour instead. 'Ethics' just can't exist under capitalism.

Neon Black
- Homepage: http://dreaming-neon-black.blogspot.com


Credit where it's due

04.09.2007 18:07

All power to the Workers' Beer Company comrades in their fight for union recognition.
I have to just say that in response to the reader who criticised the quality of their beer, the Adnams they laid on at the Burston Strike School Rally on Sunday was both local and delicious.

Tom Paine


Would never deal with them again

05.09.2007 22:48

I was wondering when people would start to notice this... I did three festivals for WBC and was left with a feeling that its about little more than maintaining cushy 'alternative' jobs for a handful of people at the expense of the well-intentioned mugs who keep turning up to slave for them.

Yeah, you get into a festival for nowt... wow. Doesn't mean you should accept being treated like an idiot.

Regarding the beer - if they are selling big brewery piss, the ethics are automatically negated... a quick look at the records of Budweiser etc is enough to prove that.

If they just marketted themselves as a festival beer tent, fair enough... but to try to dress it up as some kind of ethical outfit is a plain insult.

The management were more arrogant and obnoxious than any I've ever worked for in normal pubs, and I would not only never work for them again, I'd never give them one penny of my money. Utter hypocrites.

Yorkshire RASH


sense of proportion

07.09.2007 09:34

Workers Beer is a business. But one with some progressive leanings. I expect half the people posting on here work for charities or local authorities or NGOs so you should know the score. Don’t expect them to be revolutionary or collective cos they won’t be. But don’t boycott them unless you think your own group can do without the cash.

The tips dispute at Reading was well handled by AWL (hate their politics and have massive differences with them in general but credit where it is due) and as they were supported by other groups and it was clear we wouldn’t be railroaded, WB responded sensibly – eventually. But not before sending some clown to threaten eviction.

More organisation among servers would be a good thing and could build on this.

x


Lets get orgainsed then

18.09.2007 22:52

A few of us have tried in the past to mobalise servers and lower managers to form a union or workers collecive with the Workers Beer Company. There is a lot of anger against the beer company but the workers self organisation has never materialised. Happy to help move this on. Closed season is best to plan our strategy. Anybody up for starting the ball rolling? I know some people in Nottingham were talking about setting up a discuaaion board but don't think this happened. The main prioblem is people are angry while at a festival then lose the anger once they get home and don't want to fight. But, yes we need to do this. Obviously the beer company is happy to see workers unorganised - what boss wouldn't be. If those of us who work at festivals don't do it who will?

Tony

Tony
mail e-mail: woodywood2@blueyonder.co.uk


WBC

28.09.2007 02:06

I have in the past worked several festivals for the Workers Beer Company, and when I was imprisoned, my campaign ('Justice For Mark Barnsley') worked for them for several years. I consider the WBC to be total scum who treat their workers like shit, and I wouldn't work for them again under any circumstances.

Mark Barnsley


One of the instigators calling for a union...

05.10.2007 13:24

As one of the leafetters I was cornered on the Friday morning by two senior management, determined to find out who was responsible for producing and distributing the leaflet. Management were very confrontational with me that morning, they were really irritated by the safety incident contained within the leaflet, they deny it happened like it did, but I personally felt it right to err on the side of the aggreived party. They were also irritated by what they called a 'threat of a strike' it wasn't it was an action not to leave the canteen. I felt we were poorly organised, management denied one of us access to the microphone, so we had to organise in a very ad-hoc manner, trying to organise ourselves in the noisy atmosphere of the canteen.

The next morning, the manager was less confrontational, however he did offer me a management buy off "have you considered becoming a tent manager", first time since 2003 I've been asked to become anything, I did say without any hessitation no thanks. I was also told I was being completely 'negative' as I know others were being told too.

Setting up a union for servers has to be attempted, because server groups too often get a rough ride. There are many levels of favouritism, WBC can be put on the back heel *only* through collective action. No group or individual server should fight their corner in isolation, that's how they expel groups and servers.

I was informed that the guy who set up WBC in the 1980's resigned from the management a year or so ago, apparently over differences over the direction the organisation is moving in. So there has been and indeed still is dissent within the WBC at various management levels, we know that agency workers are being used, we know certain unions get preference over campaign groups.

Consider signing up to:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WBC-Union/

Kai Andersen (Socialist Labour Party - team organiser)
mail e-mail: aokai@tiscali.co.uk
- Homepage: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WBC-Union/


eighteen years experience with the WBC.

18.10.2007 09:50

I have eighteen years experience with the WBC and I am a Team Leader and Organiser
for ' Unison Kensington & Chelsea WBC Team ' and have worked at every possible event.

I and my team was at Reading and I had a second Team at Leeds.

I was also aware about the tip issue at Glastonbury but as this took place in a different tent I was not directly involved.

I know everyone in the WBC Inner Council but for my own reasons I decided not to become a Manager.

## by the way I have a full list { as accurate as it can be } of who is in the inner Council at

 http://www.wbc-team.co.uk/wbc-inner-circle.html

They are the people who decide on ' everything '

Rather than dealing with Leeds I would prefer to make comment's about Reading.

{ 1 } there was a small meeting about the tips issue and three ' inner council Members ' did speak at the meeting.

{ 2 } No one was ' threatened with the police ' and when you think about it
the Police would not have become involved in the first place.

------------------

Lets wind the clock back to Glastonbury and the reason why the whole issue of tips blow up.

In one beer Tent a Team was spotted ' touting for tips ' which of course is not the same thing as a Customer offering a tip.

The Team Leader was approached but he refused to stop the practice so the Inner Council got involved .

It was the same Team who was ' involved ' with the meeting at Reading.

---------------

The Inner Council will be holding a meeting later this year and the issue will be resolved.

---------------

with regards the other comments

Over priced piss! by CAMRA Man.

Well your words show that you have never been in a WBC Real Ale Bar which we set up
at all large events - in fact if you check with CAMRA they have been full of praise
at the quality and last year at Hyde park they must have spent five days not moving from the Real Ale tent.

---------------

More grievances - by Workers Cider Co-op state ' After arriving, we were told that we were going to be doing a double shift, two breaks of 15 minutes over 9 busy hours '

Now the WBC may have ' asked ' the Team Leader if his/her team would not mind working a double shift but its up to the Team Leader to either accept the offer or turn it down so really you should pull up your team Leader.

---------------------

WBC by Mark Barnsley - can you please explain why you have come to that conclusion.

As your Group was a ' single issue ' group what possible reason would they still
be raising money ?

----------------

One of the instigators calling for a union... by Kai Andersen (Socialist Labour Party - team organiser)

' we know that agency workers are being used, we know certain unions get preference over campaign groups. '

{ 1 } What do you mean by ' agency workers ' ? what would be the point in hiring a agency when in fact at most events there is more teams bidding than there is places for.

{ 2 } we know certain unions get preference over campaign groups. - The WBC does not make any secret that priority is given to Labour Groups and trade Union groups
and its been like that right from year dot.

with regards ' I was informed that the guy who set up WBC in the 1980's resigned from the management a year or so ago, apparently over differences over the direction the organisation is moving in. '

Now no single person started the WBC but I do know who you are speaking about - if you check you will see that he is now actively working for the WBC.

-------------------------

I attend every WBC Organiser meeting held in London and the idea of a ' Server Union ' has been discussed over the years but lets look at this a bit deeper.

If one was set up who would decide who should run it ?

There is over two hundred Groups involved and new groups are taking on each year and other groups for various reasons drop out .

If I or my Team has any problems I know exactly who to speak to and can get whatever sorted out in a flash and really every Team Leader/Organiser should know who to approach as well - if they don't then they really don't understand how the system works.

The system is not perfect but really its a very good way to earn money for your good cause.


Brian  http://www.wbc-team.co.uk/ e-mail  briancarson11@googlemail.com

Brian Carson
mail e-mail: brian-carson@btclick.com
- Homepage: http://www.wbc-team.co.uk/


The last Organisers meeting was held on the 5th of Dec 2007

07.12.2007 13:44

Just in case your unfamiliar with the background the WBC normally holds
a pre season meeting and a end of the year meeting and its mainly for Team Organiser's and Team Leaders.

The last Organisers meeting was held on the 5th of Dec 2007 at the WBC Pub
and this issue about tips has been resolved ' for next year '.

No Organiser or Team Leader at that meeting ' proposed ' setting up a Union and in fact no one raised the issue at all .

Brian Unison Kensington & Chelsea Workers Beer Company Team Organiser

 http://www.wbc-team.co.uk/

Brian Carson
mail e-mail: briancarson11@googlemail.com
- Homepage: http://www.wbc-team.co.uk/


Site about setting-up small unions

29.06.2008 18:15

For anyone interested in what a small union really means, my opinion is here:

 http://www.employees.org.uk/startyourownunion.htm

Basically it's a yahoo group plus legal insurance plus the nitty-gritty of how to offer limited volunteer help to colleagues. Legal insurance is quite an obscure service to buy and you probably have to go to a walk-in insurance broker rather than get it on the net.

I came to this from quite another angle, discovering the Battersea and Wandsworth TUC seems unusual amongst trades-union branch-funded organisations in being more than a slush fund to conceal money laundering or donations-on-behalf: it seems to give to genuinely useful organisations. For example most of the list of groups funded by Unite-T&G sections london regional office simply don't publish accounts to any union member who is interested. Battersea and Wandsworth TUC funds groups like Bananalink, which seems perfectly genuine and has published accounts for anyone to see. But when other TU organisations are bogus, there's little pressure on Battesea and Wandsworth TUC to remain genuine.

One of the funders of Battersea and Wandsworth TUC is a fairly bogus and soon to be aboloshed thing called Transport and General Workers Union South London Branch 1/1148 recently renamed South London Voluntary Sector Branch. I met them when complaining that there was in fact no union service provided to members and the secretary agreed; "A union is not about legal insurance but solidarity", he said, offering neither, "we are not the fifth emergency service!" (in breach of the Sale of Goods and Services Act in which the customers reasonable expectations are an implied contract). The whole set-up was a kind of money laundering organisation for a group called Communist Party of Britain and they weren't going to question any political donation as long as they could add their landlord and the Marx Memorial Library on the end. It was strange and separate world. They looked a bit embarrassed that I was the second complainant in as many months but not very embarrassed. They were rather like people in an obscure religious sect, who like being criticised and shrug it off.

Anyway, getting back to the point, anyone who knows a really good efficient transparent union that says how much it pays its lawyer and officials and can really inspire volunteers should say so. Until then, starting a new union is not half so daft as it sounds.

John Robertson
mail e-mail: j o h n a t e m p l o y e e s d o t o r g d o t u k
- Homepage: http://www.employees.org.uk