After the storm, Glasgow’s bosses face the music

Dear readers — are we all here, intact? Storm Éowyn certainly did her best to try the city this weekend, with rail links still recovering from the damage wrought. We’ve got more on the impact of Éowyn on Glasgow’s workers, below.

You might have noticed there was no weekend edition on Saturday. Our apologies but The Bell is currently run by a team of two (with only one full-time staffer) and the piece we were working on took a juicy new turn. So we made the decision to hold it, rather than give you only half a story. We’ve got some great features coming up this week though, including a psychoanalysis of Glasgow’s ‘riddy’ culture and diving into the political drama surrounding the Reform defection of East End councillor Thomas Kerr. 

Editor’s note: to help fund us getting out Saturday pieces, join as a paying member today. It’s through your support that we’ve decided to expand the team: we’re currently hiring for a new reporter. Sign up now and support the growth of local journalism. 

Now, onto your Monday briefing. 

Mini-briefing 

📜 Nice spot by Lost Glasgow: after storm damage to Shawlands eatery Brooklyn Cafe revealed a ‘ghost sign’, a bit of digging revealed its origins. According to the social media account, the sign for ‘Murray Firth’, picked out in handsome gold lettering, refers to a former chippie chain. Monday’s early bird issue of The Glasgow Wrap carried the news. 

🍸 Glasgow institution The Vic Bar has returned from the dead. Birthed as the Glasgow School of Art student union, the venue took on icon status over the years. Despite managing to survive the 2018 GSA fire, The Vic was forced into liquidation in January 2020. Five years later and a new partnership between Glasgow School of Art Students' Association (GSASA), Dundee University Students' Association (DUSA) and the GSA have resurrected the beloved spot. With their opening weekend disrupted by Storm Éowyn, today marks the first proper day of trading. There’s a stacked week of events planned, with the café and bar opening 11am-10pm weekly to boot. 

💰 Nightlife tycoon Donald Macleod (don’t forget the MBE), has made quite the stir with this week’s installment of his column for independent newsletter The Splash Glasgow. So far, Macleod has used his Sunday space to hold forth on topics like hybrid working and the national insurance hike (he’s not a fan of either). But his latest intervention has raised eyebrows. Titled ‘Make Scotland Great Again - Welcome Home, Donald J. Trump!’, Macleod argues that the red carpet should be rolled out for The Donald. “It's high time that Scotland, as a nation, celebrated his magnificent victory and gave him our fullest backing for the multimillion-dollar investments and job creation he has brought,” he writes, citing Trump’s Scottish golf resorts. It’s a far cry from what Neil Hobday, project director for Trump’s first Aberdeenshire golf course, said last year. Of the scheme, which Trump promised to spend $1bn on, Hobday told the BBC: “I feel very hoodwinked and ashamed that I fell for it and Scotland fell for it. We all fell for it. He was never going to do it”.

🗞 Related: replying to unhappy comments to Macleod's Splash piece (of which there were 34 at the time of writing), publication editor Gary Fanning (formerly of the Ayrshire Post) said that: “Opinion pieces reflect the views of the writer. These are NOT the views of The Splash”. But the backlash clearly weighed heavy, because he also announced he would be “calling it a day [with the Splash]” because “the negative publicity was not worth it”.

Big story: After the storm, Glasgow’s bosses face the music  

Topline: Storm Éowyn rolled into town last weekend, felling trees, smashing shopfronts and marooning Glaswegians on the move. But the fallout extended beyond physical damage — employers across the city are now under scrutiny for their bad weather policies. 

Taking the temperature: As red weather alerts lit up smartphones on Thursday evening, Glasgow began to batten down the hatches. Transport services were suspended across the city, schools were closed and a raft of businesses began announcing they would follow suit. But not all. 

Bad bosses: On Reddit, boss watchers began listing companies that were remaining open, or initially ordering staff to ignore weather warnings and come into work. Claims stacked up — including that shopping centre Buchanan Galleries had threatened reluctant staff with P45s to make them come in. We couldn’t find verification for this serious allegation so The Bell has reached out to Buchanan Galleries for comment. But plenty of other big employers like JD Sports and William Hill came in for (sourced) heat. 

• Independent businesses also caught flack; the West End’s Kelvingrove Cafe had to turn off their comments on Instagram. This was perhaps a case of friendly fire as it transpired that the owner and manager had made the personal decision to open, while telling staff they could stay home. 

Know your rights: People soon began checking the law. And under Section 44 of the 1996 Employment Rights Act, there is indeed a provision that says employees are protected from punishment or dismissal if they don’t go into work, or leave once there, due to “circumstances of danger”. We’re not legal experts but given the Met Office issued “danger to life” weather warnings, Storm Éowyn surely fulfills those requirements. 

Worker blowback: The unions agreed. In the run up to the storm, Unite’s Glasgow hospitality branch issued a statement saying they would be offering support to workers affected, adding that “we will not tolerate workers facing needless danger due to business-owners putting profit before the safety of their staff”. Post-storm, Unite were even more emphatic, saying that Friday had seen an “unprecedented level of engagement from hospitality workers across the city” — with union members and non-members alike reaching out for advice.

• Unite also accused business owners and managers across Glasgow of issuing “threats” to the union. Despite this, they reported, “hundreds of members” had organised themselves, with support from the branch, to invoke their statutory right not to attend work in dangerous conditions, while still being able to claim a full day’s pay. 
• But the union warned the battle wasn’t over, concluding that more employees are awaiting responses from their bosses and “are ready to take further collective action if neccesary [sic]”. 

Not all unions… are made equal. The Bell reached out to USDAW for comment, the trade union representing workers in retail, distributive, manufacturing and service industries, aka shop assistants and Evri drivers, many of whom were impacted by directives from bosses during Storm Éowyn. The Glasgow branch firmly directed us to their Manchester press office. When we got through to Manchester, we were redirected once more, to a media officer’s voicemail — which instructed The Bell to send an email to an address we’d initially reached out to. We’re currently waiting on a reply. 

• Meanwhile, during the storm, USDAW’s official X account was busy like Unite’s but the content was very different. No mention of Éowyn or supporting members but instead, lots of pictures of union reps smiling beside information stalls — apparently it’s ‘Membership Week’. “Share your success stories!” the account urged. 
• For balance, USDAW has a larger membership than Unite Hospitality, which gives them avenues of disseminating information other than social media, labour movement reporter Polly Smythe tells The Bell. “But in tweeting about the storm, Unite Hosp are acting on behalf of all hospitality workers, not just the ones they already represent”. 

Bottom line: We fear Unite is correct when they warn the climate emergency will lead to more instances of storms like Éowyn. Scotland is on the front line for ‘severe weather events’ and the question of what happens to businesses and the people that work in them during these is only going to get more pressing. In the calm after the storm, perhaps piecing together an official policy will prove as essential as fixing that cracked window…

Spot of the week

The Alasdair Gray Archive manages to distil the genius of the artist’s world into what would otherwise be two plain rooms in the Whisky Bond. There are original artworks, sketch books, love letters, a library, drawings and more — all bequeathed to Gray’s son Andrew and held at the archive for research and learning purposes. You could spend hours poring over it all, marvelling at his creative process and manifold inspirations. Tour dates for February have opened, book here. - Robbie

Media picks 

My Old School: Back in 1993, a 16-year-old called Brandon Lee enrolled at Bearsden Academy. He’d supposedly been privately tutored in Canada while accompanying his mother, an opera diva, on tour before her tragic death. But all wasn’t quite as it seemed. Filmmaker Jono McLeod unfurls the remarkable story of how a 30 year old man, Brian MacKinnon, was able to pass off as a fifth year student in his class at school. It features Alan Cumming as Brandon/Brian in remarkable form, lip-syncing to real audio of interviews given by MacKinnon. It’s on the iPlayer for a week — get at it. 

Filmmaking and freedom: There’s an interview with Glasgow University lecturer Zahra Khosroshahi about film, feminism and the fight for freedom in the Glasgow Guardian. She reflects on a short film project she curated last year, featuring the work of six Iranian female filmmakers. “Thinking of my grandmother and watching her cook or pray, or having a cup of tea while looking at the beautiful landscape of Tehran, [these] are nonpolitical versions of a home that I knew […] and it’s these connections you have with the place that never make it into western media. This is not to sugarcoat what’s happening in Iran, I stand in solidarity with the women of my country, but I also reject the westernisation of our problems.” 

The Old Plane: The Archivist History blog has a good read on the history of the Darnley Sycamore, which was badly damaged during Storm Éowyn. Before its most recent travails, the tree survived imminent destruction, first for a tramline, then a dual carriageway, with local activists and school children intervening to save the landmark. The tree was said to be planted by Lord Darnley, with he and his wife Mary Queen of Scots sitting beneath it as she nursed him back to health. While several branches collapsed during the storm, the main trunk remains intact, leaving hope the tree can be pruned back to health. 

Things to do - 

Tuesday

🎶 Flos Collective and Laura Jane Wilkie present Vent at Celtic Connections, exploring waulking songs — the traditional work songs sung by women in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland while beating tweed, allowing them to maintain rhythm while working, sharing stories, frustrations and building community as they went. Drygate at 7:30pm. Tickets £17.92. 

Wednesday

🙋 If you’re keen to volunteer this year, Glasgow Eco Centre’s community fayre and volunteer celebration is at The Whiteinch Centre, where you can find out about the range of community based services and volunteering opportunities. 4:30–7:30pm. Info here.

Thursday

♟ Monthly games night at Waterstones, Braehead. Featuring new game of the month, Six Second Scribbles, and bookseller favourites. 7pm. Info here. 109 Braehead Shopping Centre, King's Inch Road. 

Friday 

💃 Magic City is back with a bang, bringing legendary garage selector DJ EZ to Subby. Tickets from £17.

Saturday 

🔔 Waken your inner pagan while marking the beginning of spring with an Imbolc soundbath. 3pm at Hyndland Community Hall. Tickets from £20.