As Escape To Freight Island (ETFI) gears up to its reopening on 1 April, a former employee has spoken out on the ‘awful’ treatment she and her colleagues received over the last few months.
Olivia Silvey – a former supervisor at Freight who worked at the business for two years before recently making the decision to leave – told The Manc that staff had been left hanging for months waiting for the venue to reopen.
With opening dates continuously being changed, she said that many workers – herself included – used up their holiday allowance in an attempt to get them through several months of extended closure as they still needed to pay their bills.
Having originally been told in the autumn that the venue would be shutting for two weeks at the start of January, Olivia told The Manc: “Many of us were worried but accepted it and redeemed all of our holiday pay to get us through.
“Unfortunately, at the beginning of December, we were told the directors had taken the decision to close until the 3rd of February instead.”
“Many others, like me, have Freight as their full-time job, and a month with no work was extremely frightening but seeing as it was only two weeks more, having been there for nearly two years and how much we love the people we work with, we decided to stick it out. Especially as we all know how difficult it is to find employment in January.”
A director at the business has admitted that it had ‘made mistakes’ but assured staff that operational changes would be made ahead of the reopening.
Image: The Manc Group
Olivia continued: “Weeks went by and I became low on money, clinging onto the fact I would be back in work on the 3rd of Feb. Unfortunately, all staff then received a short email from HR on the 19th of January stating that they have extended the close to early April.
“This devastated the whole team of staff, causing intense stress and upset, with a lack of reply to emails of concern. It went from two weeks of no work to three whole months of unemployment giving us no time to find new jobs before hours were cut off.”
After using up all of her holiday pay whilst waiting for the venue to reopen, she said she already felt ‘unappreciated’ when staff then received a letter from Freight Island informing them that their employment was being terminated with one week’s notice as of 16 March.
In response, panicked workers quickly took to social media to vent, with many sharing allegations of mistreatment online and even referring to a designated ‘crying spot’ beside one of the food trucks.
The letter in question, seen by The Manc, told staff the businesses were ‘excited’ to announce that Peppermint would be ‘taking over the provision of bar services […] including the delivery of all staffing’ and offered workers the ‘opportunity to apply for a suitable role’.
Featuring letterheads from both Escape To Freight Island and Peppermint Events, it was signed at the bottom by ETFI’s Managing Director Dan Morris with the final line reading: “Thank you for your hard work completed whilst being with us, and we do hope to see you at the venue for Freight 2023.”
However according to Olivia, whilst she and others found the letter upsetting it merely compounded the problems she’d already been having at the business.
She said: “We were treated awfully. I know most people aren’t going to go back from who I’ve spoken to.
“It’s not even the letter the other day, it’s just that the past few months have been so bad.
“They always word it in such a way as like ‘this is happening. you’ve got a staff party coming up […] we’re doing it to benefit you guys’ but I don’t think I can put myself through working with those directors anymore. I’m actually at [a new job] now. It’s much, much better.”
Image: The Manc Group
Image: The Manc Group
Silvey initially joined on 16 hours as a student, then was asked to be on 37 hours a week when she went full-time as a supervisor but said that her hours would regularly be cut mid-week.
“We got our rotas the week before for the next week, and then it would still update throughout the week and we’d see our hours had been cut down.”
“They literally check the wage through the week,” she told The Manc, “and if they realise they don’t want to spend as much money they cut the hours midweek. So your shift on Sunday, say it’s a Wednesday, it’d be cut at that moment.”
Between this and subsisting on holiday pay for several months whilst opening dates were changed, she said she felt ‘unappreciated’ and ultimately decided that she would be better off going to work elsewhere.
She said: “I felt like that’s quite, a thing on the whole that I found with Freight, just we weren’t appreciated at all, like being left last minute to find out about all these changes. Staff and everybody, we seemed quite replaceable I always thought.”
She continued: “There would be so many times when all of our hours would be cut drastically even though the staff were needed on the shifts, [it felt like] they’d prefer for shifts to go badly for the staff that are working than actually give people the hours that they need.”
In response to the allegations, The Manc also spoke with Freight Island director Jon Drape who said that all is not entirely as it seems.
Drape, one of the primary shareholders behind the business and a well-respected leader in the music festival world, said that the letter did not in fact have directorial sign-off from Freight.
Rather, it was issued ‘in haste’ by a third-party HR consultant – with the MD whose name appeared at the bottom away on holiday at the time.
A second follow-up letter, also seen by The Manc, was then issued to staff on 10 March in an attempt to reassure them that the request for them to reapply with Peppermint was not an underhanded fire and rehire scheme, but more of a bureaucratic necessity.
The tone of each is markedly different, something that leads Jon to exclaim ‘exactly!’ when we put this point to him.
“One we wrote, one somebody else wrote,” he said. “You know, we’ve got a great body of staff and a lot of them have been with us for a long time, and the last thing we wanted to do was upset them.”
Acknowledging that “it’s clearly had fairly bad ramifications for the business and the staff”, he went on to say that the whole experience had been ‘pretty devastating’ for him and for the other directors, before adding: “In our other businesses we’ve got a great reputation for the way we treat our staff and that’s something we want to have across all of our operations.”
Asked about the business’s extended closure, he added: “The reopening dates were subject to change due to the hospitality sector experiencing an economic crisis with rising utilities costs, an industry wide staff shortage and union trade strikes.
“In fact we weren’t fully closed, we did try to operate at these times to fill hours for our staff, albeit not with the full Freight Island operation hours. At the heart of navigating through a very difficult time, looking after our staff was paramount.”
Commenting on allegations of understaffing at the venue, he said: “Freight Island began operating within the Covid pandemic, which had multiple effects on staffing levels. The contingency is to forecast and overbook the rota by 20%, which is to supplement the sickness-related drop out. Our staffing ratio is higher than industry standard but as all business sometimes we didn’t get it right.”
Commenting on allegations that staff had not received replies to emails of concern, he continued: “During the 7 days period from 19th January, HR had five emails which were all responded to within one hour. And one email was responded to after 6 days.”
When asked how Freight Island plans to reassure customers and future employees that the culture will be different moving forward, he said: “ETFI has been a rollercoaster of a journey since conception in the summer of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic we were able to have the vision and determination to create a world leading site when most of the world was shut down.
“ETFI gave hundreds of people jobs and hope at a very difficult time. Being honest the highs and lows kept on coming and we made mistakes, but rest assured at the heart of all we did and continue do is to bring back that sense of joy and pride our staff and guests have felt.
“We have apologised to every staff member for the mistake on the wording of the letter and we have changed operationally how the site will run ahead of opening in two weeks time.
“We thank every single customer, staff member, traders, artists and performers and all involved, who have been part of the journey so far and welcome everyone back to see share our new chapter with our partner Peppermint.”
Featured image: Google Maps
News
Angela Rayner’s statement in full as she resigns as Deputy Prime Minister
Daisy Jackson
Angela Rayner has shared her resignation letter this afternoon as she announced she is resigning from Government, stepping down as both Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The Stockport-born politician has been the subject of an investigation into her tax affairs by PM Sir Keir Starmer’s independent standards adviser.
Angela Rayner admitted that she had underpaid stamp duty on a flat she bought in Hove, East Sussex, earlier this year.
It’s reported that she paid £40,000 less than she should have.
Rayner has now publicly shared her resignation addressed to Sir Keir Starmer, in which she says: “I accept that I did not meet the highest standards in relation to my recent property purchase.”
She said in her lengthy statement that the ‘ongoing pressure of the media’ is taking ‘a significant toll’ on her family.
Rayner wrote: “While I rightly expect proper scrutiny on me and my life, my family did not choose to have their private lives interrogated and exposed so publicly.
“I have been clear throughout this process that my priority has, and always will be, protecting my children and the strain I am putting them under through staying in post has become unbearable.”
She also said: “For a teenage mum from a council estate in Stockport to serve as the highest level of government has been the honour of my life.
“The challenges of government are nothing compared to the challenge of putting food on the table and getting a roof over our head when I brought up kids working as a home help. Too many people face the same across our country.”
Thank you for the personal and public support you have shown me in recent days. As you know, on Wednesday I referred myself to your Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, to conduct a thorough investigation into my personal financial circumstances after I became aware that it is likely I inadvertently paid the incorrect rate for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT).
I have always taken my responsibilities as Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as a Member of Parliament with the utmost seriousness. I have long believed that people who serve the British public in government must always observe the highest standards, and while the Independent Adviser has concluded that I acted in good faith and with honesty and integrity throughout, I accept that I did not meet the highest standards in relation to my recent property purchase.
I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as Housing Secretary and my complex family arrangements. I take full responsibility for this error. I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount. I must also consider the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking on my family.
While I rightly expect proper scrutiny on me and my life, my family did not choose to have their private lives interrogated and exposed so publicly. I have been clear throughout this process that my priority has, and always will be, protecting my children and the strain I am putting them under through staying in post has become unbearable.
Given the findings, and the impact on my family, I have therefore decided to resign as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
For a teenage mum from a council estate in Stockport to serve as the highest level of government has been the honour of my life. The challenges of government are nothing compared to the challenge of putting food on the table and getting a roof over our head when I brought up kids working as a home help. Too many people face the same across our country.
I’ve always known that politics changes lives because it changed mine. The last Labour government gave me the tools I needed to build a better life for me and my young son, and that’s why l’ve been working relentlessly from day one in government to do the same for the next generation. Every day I had in office, I worked to serve working class communities like the one that I grew up in, which are too often overlooked by those in power. I am proud that in every decision I made, I did it for them. I would never have become Deputy Prime Minister if not for the decisions taken by the last Labour Government, giving me a council house to support me, Sure Start to help raise my kids, and the security of a minimum wage – and I can only hope that the changes I made in government will have the same impact for young girls growing up on council estates like I did.
Through my Employment Rights Bill people across the country will receive the biggest uplift in workers’ rights in a generation. This landmark legislation will be game changing for millions of people stuck in insecure and low-paid work, giving them the dignity and security they don’t just need but also deserve. I am and will remain deeply proud of that legacy. I am so proud to have worked alongside the trade union movement, who have given me everything, to deliver that.
Our Renters’ Rights Bill will finally ban the oppressive rule of no-fault evictions and will reset the balance between renters and landlords through ground breaking protection for renters. Everyone deserves to live in a safe and decent home, and I know this legislation will deliver that for millions of people across the country.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will also be instrumental in getting the homes so many people across this country need built, and I am so proud that at the Spending Review we announced the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a generation with the overwhelming amount of this going to genuinely social rent homes.
And last week, I introduced the English Devolution Bill to Parliament. The largest single package of devolution from any Westminster government to local people across England. This landmark legislation will permanently change the balance of power, giving true control to those with skin in game. We delivered an Elections Strategy which will mean 16 and 17 year olds getting the vote for the first time, as well as ambitious plans to ensure the most marginalised communities are registered to vote. We took steps to stabilise the broken foundations of local government and deliver the first genuinely fair funding review and the first multi-year settlement for a decade.
My department, through my excellent team of Ministers, has also provided the largest ever investment in homelessness prevention services to local authorities, to get Britain back on track to ending homelessness for good. We’ve worked relentlessly to bring an end to the building safety crisis and developed new measures to get peoples’ homes fixed quicker and hold rogue freeholders to account. We’ve also worked to boost community cohesion, tackle hate crime and reset the relationship with faith communities.
I have been lucky to work alongside the most talented group of Ministers who worked with dedication to deliver for working people. I thank Matthew Pennycook, Jim McMahon, Alex Norris, Wajid Khan and Sharon Taylor. I too am grateful to my brilliant parliamentary team, Harpreet Uppal, Mark Ferguson, and Gen Kitchen.
For me, being in office is the chance to change the lives of the people I grew up alongside. I will do whatever I can to continue doing so.
Thank you for your leadership and for your friendship. I will continue to serve you, our country and the party and movement I love in the weeks, months and years ahead.
A sneak peek at the first pour: Greater Manchester celebrates the return of Boddingtons
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has every reason to drink and jubilate this Friday and toast the perfect excuse for an early dart as the first fresh pours in a new chapter for Boddingtons beer have been sunk.
And by’eck if ain’t still bloody gorgeous.
That’s right, in case you didn’t hear the latest news about ‘Cream of Manchester’, we can now officially and ever-so gladly confirm that Boddingtons Bitter is properly back on draught in the region.
With the iconic cask ale making a glorious return decades on from its glory days in the 1990s, the new and improved Boddies beer is flowing from the taps – just in time for the weekend, no less.
Yes, with local brewery and pub chain J.W. Lees taking over the manufacturing and distribution, leaving the Budweiser Group to take over the licensing, the updated recipe Boddingtons – which clocks in at a 4.0% ABV – is about to be rolled out across the 10 boroughs.
Better yet, with five native pubs having already reinstalled honey yellow and black pumps, and with Lees looking to deliver it to the ale-loving masses across the North West, this could be the biggest Manc comeback since, well, those two lads from Burnage…
Speaking of: we were invited along to Founder’s Hall on Albert Square (formerly Duttons and now home to every one of the brand’s beers, not to mention serving as a tribute to John Lees himself), for a special ceremony to celebrate the inaugural public pints of Boddies being poured.
Let’s just say we were honoured to be part of the grand resurrection.
Obviously, there have been some holdouts hanging onto the classic Mancunian brew, and we certainly had fun trying to track them down over the past couple of years, but we’re just glad we don’t have to do as much work to find one now.
Managing Director of JW Lees, William Lees-Jones, said on the relaunch: “When I joined JW Lees in 1994, Boddingtons was ‘The Cream of Manchester’ and we were in awe of their position in leading the cask beer revolution.
“We’re proud to bring it back home, starting with Founder’s Hall, and we’re planning to restore Boddington’s as one of the UK’s leading premium cask beers, particularly here in the North West.” Well said, sir.
Available from Founder’s Hall, The Black Friar in Salford, Stables Tavern; Sams Chop House, The Circus Tavern, Oxford Road Tap, Piccadilly Tap and Victoria Tap from today, as well as Corbières and Stockport pubs like The Crown and The White Lion, we can’t wait to see Boddingtons take over the nation.
In the meantime, why not look back at the storied history behind one of our finest exports?
Georgina Pellant -
24th March 2023 
