IWW ÍSLAND – list of shame

Tag: claims of understaffing

Hótel Grímsborgir
There have been several articles with claims of abuses from workers. There are reports of similar incidences in other workplaces under the same owner, which have gone bankrupt. According to the articles workers reported the following:
- Some workers denied working contracts.
- Full time contracts not paid with full salaries, and overtime not paid.
- Work responsibilities are given that are not in the contracts or job description, without compensation.
- Work schedule given with short notice, sometimes overnight.
- Mass layoffs during COVID.
- Legal threats (with no realization to date 29/07/23) to the newspaper and former workers after the story was reported.
The hotel was sold to Kea Hotels in 2023 and is under new ownership.

Sources published from Februar 2016 to November 2020:
Radisson Blu 1919
In 2019, Heimildin reported the poor working conditions of the workers following the change of management:
- The manager harassed and humiliated workers, one of them tried to commit suicide 🇬🇧 because of this.
- The management fired a group of workers because of “structural changes” and offered to rehire them with worse conditions.
- The accounting makes mistakes with the salaries often and the workers have to take time to correct them, and have to wait weeks.
- The management did not replace leaving workers, as a consequence the staff have more workload without pay raise or overtime.
- The management did not replace the shift manager, so the workers have to find people to replace themselves when they are sick or deny them sick leave.
- The management does not respect foreign workers and their ideas to improve their workplace.
Sources published in March and April 2019:
- Burned out and lost his will to live after working at an Icelandic hotel – Heimildin
- Missti eldmóðinn og lífsviljann eftir starf á íslensku hóteli – Heimildin
Hótel 1919 ehf. (kt: 460405-0920); Real owners: Garðar Hannes Friðjónsson and Lýður Heiðar Gunnarsson (company registry)
Snaps
In 2021, Vísir reported that the staff walked out 🇮🇸 to protest their working conditions. They were complaining about:
- low salaries
- understaffing
- problems of communication
Sources published 15.10.2021:
- Þjónar gengu út af Snaps í síðustu viku: „Það er engan bilbug á okkur að finna“ – Vísir
Snaps ehf. (kt: 411211-0880), real owner: Þórir Helgi Bergsson (company registry)
Messinn
In 2020, several newspapers followed the staff as they were struggling to get several months of salaries still unpaid. According to those articles:
- When COVID started, the two restaurants closed and the staff did not receive salaries or anything from the state relief fund given to the boss.
- After several months, the boss fired everybody but did not pay salaries for months during the termination notice, they could not get unemployment benefits because of this.
- The former owner sold the restaurants and the new owner opened them again with a new business number, and took no responsibility for the unpaid wages 🇮🇸. The new owner runs several restaurants in Selfoss and Reykjavík.
- The former owner quit communication with the workers.
- Former workers organised to picket the restaurant 🇮🇸 and call for boycott until they were paid their stolen wages.
During the newspaper investigations, other stories from previous years were reported 🇮🇸:
- In 2018, an Efling union representative discovered that workers were paid below minimum wage and did not receive pauses, between other issues.
- She successfully convinced her colleagues to request legal working conditions.
- As a retaliation, she was taken off the shift plan 🇮🇸.
- Other workers tell that they were understaffed and the boss took their propositions for improving the workplace without respect.
- Some staff had no working contracts. Some were paid minimum wage without taking into account work experience.
- A worker says that the salaries were paid late and sometimes not correctly.
Sources published May – July 2020:
Krossalind ehf. (kt: 680711-0890), real owner: Baldvin Jóhann Kristinsson; declared bankruptcy 27.05.2020, ceased operations under this kennitala: 5.11.2020 (company registry)

22 niðri ehf. (kt: 620513-1560), real owner: Baldvin Jóhann Kristinsson; declared bankruptcy 7.10.2020, ceased operations under this kennitala: 14.07.2023 (company registry)

Tag: claims of understaffing

Hótel Grímsborgir

Radis­son Blu 1919

Snaps

Messinn

Radisson Blu 1919