'Unpaid labour = theft': Union issues warning to Almost Famous owners after staff left 'shafted'

'Shafted' staff at Almost Famous allege that they have not been paid for their last shifts worked before it suddenly closed - as a union slammed owners as 'morally reprehensible'.

On Monday (January 26), bosses of the popular burger restaurant announced they were closing all of their sites with immediate effect after a series of financial difficulties. In a statement, owners said the 'current economic climate has proven too challenging for us to overcome'.

It meant that staff at the Great Northern, Northern Quarter, Liverpool and Leeds branches were all left without jobs - reportedly to be up to 140 employees.. Some members of staff later alleged they had only found out they had lost their jobs via social media and through online articles after missing the initial WhatsApp messages from their bosses delivering the news.

A number of staff at the affected restaurants have now unionised with the Unite Union to help launch a campaign for ‘pay and compensation following their unlawful redundancy’ - and some staff have also claimed to have not received their wages as they had expected today.

One member of staff, who has spoken to the Manchester Evening News under anonymity, said they had hoped that, despite the news of the closures, they would still receive their pay for shifts worked as usual at the end of the month - with pay day falling today (January 31).

"Everyone is outraged that we've been shafted," they explained. "We've all worked a mega busy month with it being 50 per cent off. The site I worked at averaged easily over 250 covers a day during this busy month.”

The member of staff also spoke about how the way the situation has been handled has left employees feeling ‘anxious’ and stressed about how to cover costs and