A CHARITY venue attached to a prestigious Glasgow university is set for a legal challenge over alleged trade union victimisation.

Last week, staff at The Art School in Glasgow were sent notice of disciplinary hearings for what the venue is calling gross misconduct.

Operated by the Glasgow School of Art Students’ Association (GSASA), the struggling venue has reportedly been in financial difficulty, with staff told their hours were being cut with little notice amid warnings the business was “two weeks from liquidation”.

In September, the workers were promised that they would be given minimum-hour contracts and previously set working conditions such as paid breaks.

Workers now say they are being “targeted despite not having had paid work for over a month”, with disciplinary notices sent to five unionised staff which could lead to their dismissal.

The Save Our Art School group, made up of staff members, said in a statement: “We will not let GSASA win in this disgusting attempt to remove those staff fighting for fair working conditions, and will be fighting this through our union.”

Last month staff who had unionised at the Art School reported that they had been passed over for shifts.

As a result, management at the GSASA were accused of blacklisting by those who have been in dispute with bosses over pay and conditions.

Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Leonard had both given their support to the workers in their struggle against workers.

It has been reported that the GSASA president Alessandro Marini has ignored correspondence with the staff, instead seeking to “shut out” workers.

Bryan Simpson, Unite Hospitality organiser, said: “Our members at The Art School have now been issued with invite letters for disciplinary for gross misconduct for having ‘staffys’ after work — something that is common place at the venue and across the industry.

“This is the latest attempt by the GSA Students’ Association to sack those who led the grievance against having their hours cut back in August.

“Despite claiming they don’t have enough money to pay our members or a redundancy package, the students association has appointed expensive lawyers and private consultants to prosecute the case.

“We will obviously be defending our members vigorously and shall be pursuing the employer for trade union victimisation.”

The GSASA were approached for comment.