Glasgow City Council has passed a motion requiring hospitality businesses to provide free and safe transport home after 11pm for late-night workers.
It will apply to any new alcohol licences, or existing businesses applying for extended operating hours.
The move follows Unite union members lobbying for the move through the Get Me Home Safely campaign, led by hotel worker Caitlin Lee, who was sexually assaulted as she was walking home after finishing her shift.
Her employer refused to pay for a taxi, and her bus home was cancelled. She then took up the Get Me Home Safely campaign, supported by her union, Unite Scotland to get the motion passed by Glasgow City Council.
Since the campaign was launched in 2021, schemes have been introduced by Edinburgh City Council, East Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, Falkirk and Dundee.
Some have suggested it raises a number of questions as to why it is only hospitality businesses being singled out for this when there are many other business types that operate past 11pm.
Stephen Montgomery, spokesperson for the Scottish Hospitality Group comments, “The rights of every worker within hospitality to get home safely is a valid point, however the right of ever customer to be afforded that same level of safety is also important and should not be neglected.. I have met with Maggie Chapman MSP on the issue of the Safe Home Campaign and expressed the need for better late night public transport – both bus, train and taxis.”
Bryan Simpson, national organiser for Unite Hospitality, said: “This is a huge step forward for Glasgow’s late-night workforce who have had to chose between walking home and spending two hours wages on a taxi home for far too long now.”
However it is still to be verified whether staff may be subjected to a tax on the free travel as it will be seem as a benefit in kind.
