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Brewery calls time on jobs in shake-up
ONE of Yorkshire's oldest breweries has called time on several pub jobs - sparking protests.
Brewers Samuel Smith have wielded the axe among landlords and bar staff at the Corporation Brewery Taps on Cleveland Street, the Holly Bush in Edenthorpe and the Lumley Arms in Maltby - where police attended a protest on Tuesday in response to the on-the-spot sackings.
Jobs at the Ridgewood Hotel pub in Edenthorpe and the Gamecock Hotel in Harworth are believed to be next in the firing line.
The redundancies, which follow a similar wave of job losses in Rotherham and Sheffield, are the result of landlords failing to agree to a huge reduction in their weekly working hours.
Approximately 14 jobs have been lost at the three pubs affected so far.
Carole Emmerson, who has managed the Ridgewood Hotel with her husband for the last seven years, told the Free Press this week she expected them to be the next pub to learn their fate - even though both her and her husband Jim are currently off work sick.
She did, however, promise not to go without a fight by threatening a sit-in protest.
"We've all put a grievance in about our hours being cut but it has not even been acknowledged and we've had no meetings," she said.
"We've been cut from 126 hours to 45 hours and we cannot manage the pub in that time. People haven't got homes to go to - we are being treated really badly.
"This is a fantastic pub with fantastic people," she added. "We feel most for our colleagues who've been with the company for 20 to 30 years."
Corporation Brewery Taps regular Des Heywood, of Balby, contacted the Free Press in shock at this week's developments.
"The regulars really don't like what's happening to them - we've known the staff for years," said the 69-year-old.
"I don't know why Samuel Smith doesn't put a few pence on the cost of a pint. It's cheap as it is and could save these people from being made homeless."
A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police confirmed that two response officers attended a small demonstration at the Lumley Arms pub in Maltby on Tuesday afternoon.
Samuel Smith's is an independent brewery based in Tadcaster where operations continue at the oldest brewery in Yorkshire, established in 1758.
Samuel Smith Brewery was contacted by the Free Press but refused to comment.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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