Nice to see an IWA section do something other than bitch about initials when it has no workplace presence or influence, when it builds churches of radical purity to compensate, and tries to wedge radical ghettos with personality politics to construct scapegoats for its own failure to organise itself out of a paper bag. The ASF knows what I’m talking about.
Organise Anarchists Ireland || On the eve of International Working Women’s Day (Saturday 7th March) workers – all members of Organise! – IWA – employed at Obsidian and Echo Body Piercing Studios walked out of an unsafe work environment.
Their boss and owner of the piercing studios Pamela Wilson had refused to move on Union recognition and demands from workers that included issues around unvaccinated workers being made to carry out fittings and piercings. Anyone exposed to bodily fluids and blood as part of their work must be vaccinated against Hepatitis B. Only one worker was provided with a full course of immunisations.
When customers declared that they had HIV or Hepatitis B employees were put under pressure to do piercings and fittings regardless – “just double up your latex gloves” they were told. Pamela and her management have been given numerous opportunities to meet with their employees to resolve issues but instead they chose to ignore their workers and put them in danger despite claiming to be a “family” that values everyone equally (of course managers in both of Pamela’s shops are immunised). Issues were first officially raised by the workers through their Union when a demand letter was handed to management on Saturday 31st January. Workers refuse to subject themselves to risk of disease for a minute longer.
Demands Most Reasonable
Employees at Echo and Obsidian Body Piercers in Belfast have unionised with Organise!-IWA in order to negotiate with their employer and improve their working conditions.
On 31st of January 2026 a demand letter was handed into management at Echo and Obsidian. Issues to be addressed include:
Unclear job roles/contracts – unfulfilled apprentice training and inconsistent application of disciplinary procedures.
Health and Safety – concerns around lone working must be addressed. Necessary courses of vaccinations for workers exposed to blood must be completed – most employees have received only two out of three vaccination doses for Hep B (which should be followed up with a booster in due course).
Breaks – employees regularly work over the duration of their 6 hour shifts without a break – in direct contravention of the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, workers are legally entitled to an uninterrupted rest break of at least 20 minutes if their daily working time is more than six hours .
Payslips – payslips should be properly itemised so staff can clearly see what bonus payments relate to.
Rotas – A fair and transparent system of scheduling staff is required.
Pay Rise – End of individually negotiated pay shop floor employees and apprentices to be paid the Real Living Wage of £13.45 per hour. Qualified Piercers to be paid £17.00 an hour.
Management have not responded to concerns around lone working – an individual employee was approached and offered £1.50 per hour extra to work on their own.
The employer has claimed that employees need to follow separate grievance procedures based on the shop they are employed by – it is clearly not the case that they work for two separate companies. This was acknowledged by the ‘independent’ HR company they have hired. These are employees of the same company working across two shops with interchangeable shifts.
In relation to incomplete vaccinations the employer has attempted to shift the onus for organising the remaining stages of their vaccinations onto their employees. Employers are legally required under COSHH Regulations to pay for and arrange Hepatitis B vaccinations for staff at risk of exposure. Shifting this onus onto employees is a breach of safety duties.
Workers At Risk
Immunisation against Hepatitis B is required for all workers who have increased exposure due to Occupational Risk. It is essential for employees of piercing studios who work with exposure to blood and bodily fluids i.e. piercers and jewellery fitters.
Immunisation protects against a virus that has severe consequences and which is a major global cause of death. It protects against acute infection (severe illness) and chronic infection (long-term liver inflammation), which can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Immunisation gives long-term protection that lasts decades – if the full course of injections is provided.
Hepatitis B has a High Transmission Risk: the virus spreads easily through contact with infected blood, semen, and vaginal fluids (e.g., needles, sex, birth). Babies born to infected mothers require immediate vaccination.
Chronic Hepatitis B significantly increases the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer).
Asymptomatic Spread: Many people with chronic Hepatitis B are unaware they are infected but can still pass the virus to others.
BELFAST LOCAL ORGANISE!-IWA TAKE ACTION!
All of the non-managerial staff at Obsidian and Echo Body Piercing in Belfast have been in dispute with their employer since the handing in of our demand letter on the 31st of January.
The workers had a clear list of concerns and demands to be addressed collectively and directly with them as members of Organise!-IWA.
Since then this company that pushes “one big happy family” as the propaganda has proven to be anything but. Issues developed out of the favoured ’negotiating’ practice of the owner Pamela Wilson. She prefers a direct individual ’treat and threat’ style of management. One worker being told they will get a bonus, or extra pay but that they were not to discuss this offer with others, this also went along with threatening employees – “if you don’t comply you will lose your apprenticeship”.
Initially Pamela tried to have issues ’dealt’ with through a ’grievance procedure’ involving an English HR company. Issues raised in relation to pay, conditions and immunisations were struck off the agenda. The grievance ’procedure was rejected after an initial request from management that at least one member of staff attend (we demanded more workers be present) turned into zero employees, 2 ’representatives’ from Organise! IWA (one named and one there as his Union Rep!), no management from Obsidian or Echo and a ‘neutral’ facilitator from Peninsula Face2Face. Correspondence shared did not show any comprehension of NI specific labour legislation, was incorrectly dated and sent at short notice. Of course a major concern is the claimed ‘independence’ of a company in the pay of Echo and Obsidian’s owner.
Greater indications, more concerning to the workers that the owner was not acting in good faith also emerged. While Pamela and the HR company were communicating with Organise! IWA directly at this stage they were also still singling out employees and offering wee deals (that they were expected not to discuss with their co-workers). One worker was offered £15 an hour for short notice cover “for sickness and stuff” – clearly an attempt to set one of us up as a scab. That didn’t work out for them and they started pulling workers in ones and twos to tell them there would be no recognition as Organise!-IWA are unregistered. In law every worker is entitled to join the union of their choosing – registered with the state or not.
Earlier a Federation of Small Businesses poster was put up in a rather laughable attempt to intimidate employees.
Reiterating the option of negotiations throughout workers had no alternative left to them but to escalate their dispute. On Saturday 21st February an appointments blockade was put in place for the day, on Tuesday 24th February an Email Zap took place and management set email to ‘out of office’ around lunchtime meaning that any emails from customers weren’t dealt with. On Thursday a Phone Zap happened with supporters showing solidarity and demanding that management negotiate with their employees and stop attempts at union busting.
On Saturday 28th of February an info picket took place outside Obsidian. Management put a sign in the window claiming business was operating as usual, that they had not received any “formal staff grievances” and ended with the brass necked claim that “We remain committed to a respectful workplace and open communication”.
Despite the deflection, attempts at setting workers against each other and then the outright refusal to negotiate we contacted management at Obsidian and Echo again on the morning of the 5th of March to reiterate that their employees were committed to finding a negotiated way forward and to the resolution of their dispute.
No movement has been made on the demands presented 5 weeks ago and the actions of the employer have been to isolate and undermine their employees. On the afternoon of the 5th the answer to our latest offer to negotiate got a response of sorts. A job for a piercer was advertised on Echo Body Piercing’s social media at “Up to £20 an hour”! This is substantially more than the pay increase demanded by Pamela’s current employees who she clearly under pays, under values and puts at risk.
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