STUDENT workers picketed Queen's University Belfast yesterday in a socially distant protest over its refusal to take up the government furlough scheme - leaving them without pay since August.
The Unite union said 65 per cent of the zero-hours and casual contract workers at QUBSU have taken on debt after payments stopped and 45 per cent "lost their living accommodation" and are now "technically homeless".
Up to 55 workers had been employed in various roles from bar and security staff to shop workers and porters and put on furlough when the pandemic first forced the closure of the venue.
They say that when they were taken off the scheme by the university it was with the expectation that their work would resume when the new term started.
However, the Students Union is now not expected to open this academic year.
Unite Hospitality organiser, Neil Moore said Queen's position "is not only callous, but inexplicable - the university can access wage supports under the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme without any cost to itself".
He said those students who are "trying to work their way through college... can't access income support benefits" with many "genuinely concerned that they won't be able to continue into the next semester".
Queen's has insisted the scheme "can only be offered to part-time or casual staff where work has been assigned to them that cannot take place".
"As there has been no reasonable expectation of the Speakeasy being able to reopen and no commitment to provide casual hours of work in this academic year, unfortunately, these staff are no longer eligible for the (furlough scheme)."
It said a hardship fund is available to all students and encouraged "any who find themselves in financial difficulties" to apply.
"Other opportunities for casual work, whilst limited, are also being offered to students and casual workers wherever possible."
