“I haven’t had a holiday in years”

In part 3 of UNITElive’s series, Britain Deserves a Pay Rise, we investigate the ruthless, poverty-pay world of restaurant service work, through the eyes of a waiter who’s been on the minimum wage for decades.

 
Kieran Duffy has seen it all as a service worker in the catering industry. He’s worked as a waiter for various restaurants, both here and across the Atlantic. His wages have faithfully stuck to the minimum wage over the years, even as the cost of living has soared.

 
Now working for a restaurant at Heathrow airport, Duffy says making a living – despite having decades of experience – has never been tougher.

 
“You’re constantly, constantly busy,” Duffy explains. “I once had a job where we would do ten-hour shifts with absolutely no break. You don’t have time to breathe.”

 
Duffy’s stories from the trenches in restaurant service work sound more like Kafkaesque nightmares. He notes that three people in one restaurant where he worked died in one year from various stress-related conditions. At another restaurant, Duffy recalls carrying a bowl of French onion soup, and being punched repeatedly in the arm by a manager who called him “an Irish fa**ot.”

 
“Management is in such complete control of every move you make, and most are so scared of losing their jobs, so often people don’t say anything,” he said. “When that incident happened to me, it was before I knew my rights at work. I didn’t know that could be considered assault.”

 
Duffy explains that living on the minimum wage has become increasingly impossible. He notes the doubling or trebling of prices in basic necessities, from transport to rent to meat and even bread.

 
“Just a few years ago, I remember paying £450 a month for a decent 3 bed flat. Now, my children are paying £500 for just a room in really dingy conditions.”

 
Duffy says he supplements his minimum wage earnings with tips, but even this extra money that allows him to make ends meet is under threat. He explains how restaurants will often pocket 60 per cent of waiters’ credit card tips, which amounts to a £3,000-a-year robbery.

 
With just a small 2 or 3 per cent pay rise – one which the restaurant industry rolling in profits can well afford – Duffy says his life would be much easier.

 
“It would take off lots of pressure. I could maybe even relax a little,” he says. “You know, I haven’t gone on holiday in years.”
Duffy believes hard workers across the nation deserve a pay rise to make our society more equitable.

 
“Our chief executive makes something like £250,000 a year, which is several hundred times what the lowest paid earn. Does he really work hundreds of times harder than us? That’s hard to believe when I see dishwashers working 100 hour weeks on the minimum wage, with no tips, eating their lunch on the dishwasher.”