{"id":11794,"date":"2017-03-15T15:59:15","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T15:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11794"},"modified":"2017-03-16T11:12:12","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T11:12:12","slug":"stuck-twilight-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11794","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Stuck in a twilight zone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Earlier this week, Unite helped uncover an all-too common practice in the restaurant industry at exclusive restaurant chain the Ivy Collection \u00e2\u20ac\u201c management charging customers \u00e2\u20ac\u015bservice charges\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 that are virtually completely withheld from staff, most of whom earn little more than the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today, UNITElive hears from James*, a kitchen staff member at one of the Ivy Collection restaurants, who tells us just what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like to work at a fine dining establishment oozing profits but whose workers struggle to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

James has been working at the restaurant for just under a year on a part-time contract but in practice he works full-time hours.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not uncommon for me to work 48 hours a week,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all on the minimum wage and then we earn up to \u00c2\u01411.30 an hour in what they call commission but this is still a flat rate \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t vary based on sales or anything like that.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite working such long hours, James typically takes home only about \u00c2\u01411,300 a month after tax. Living in London, he says, is nearly impossible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m grateful that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not, for example, struggling to eat, but you can forget about having any sort of social life. I go out and spend time with friends maybe once a month at the very most,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he notes. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been on the waiting list for a council flat for the last five years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible to get one so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve pretty much given up.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nGruelling hours<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The gruelling hours and little money they earn means that James and his colleagues are stuck in a twilight zone in which, he says, they are always either \u00e2\u20ac\u015bworking, sleeping, or tired \u00e2\u20ac\u201d there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no time or money for anything else.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In addition to the long hours, the intensity of the job can be overwhelming.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen we do 13 to 14 hour days, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re standing around \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always go, go, go. People are constantly shouting at each other and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not uncommon for fights to break out in the kitchen. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also no sympathy for you if you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t keep up. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been ill for the past four days and I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t slept more than 1 or 2 hours a night for the past several nights but you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just expected to carry on.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nBesides, James notes, he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to be sick.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI work full-time hours but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m technically on a part-time contract so I only get part-time sick pay \u00e2\u20ac\u201d no matter how bad I feel I just have to keep going to make ends meet.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite all the pressure, James says he gets along really well with his immediate bosses. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just the management at the very top who insist on not paying us properly. Knowing that the service charge doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to us is deeply unfair for both customers and staff.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He believes most customers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realise that the 12.5 per cent service charge levied on all bills don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to staff.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe work at a really nice restaurant with good food and we try our best to offer impeccable service and the setting itself is very nice \u00e2\u20ac\u201d customers who come here definitely have money so when they see the service charge they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blink. They think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d look really cheap if they asked to remove it so most of them don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ask any questions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really frustrating to know that the customers are getting ripped off and the service charge is going into some big black hole while we work so hard for so little \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and then you see that the restaurant group is planning on expanding with new restaurants popping up everywhere and their profits are massive and growing.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unfair and murky tipping practices are only part of the problem in the hospitality industry, which is rife with abuse and job insecurity, James notes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Nothing short of sociopathic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m lucky to have really great management where I work now but that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the case at a job I had as a kitchen porter at a gastro pub \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the management there were nothing short of sociopathic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI was on a zero hours\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 contract but they were mostly employing me full-time,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 James recalls. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThen without giving me any notice whatsoever they took away all my hours. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say anything \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I had no choice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople might say \u00e2\u20ac\u0098oh, well you only make and serve food, how hard can it be?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 but people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realise that working in restaurants can take years off your life. It can be just as physically demanding as construction but in construction at least you get a full night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sleep. In our industry, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s normal if you get 3-4 hours a night. We deserve to be rightfully compensated.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nIt was after his experience as a kitchen porter that James decided to join Unite.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI knew that working in an industry like this you need someone to fight your corner. The union is able to look at your contract and help you decipher all the legal jargon. When you have a problem at work, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have a rep there to support you. Until people stand up together \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and joining a union is the best way to do that \u00e2\u20ac\u201d nothing will change.<\/p>\n

 
\nAbove all, James believes restaurants will only change their ways if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re forced to.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need a change in legislation,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he argues. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing in the law that says they have to give the service charge to staff, then they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to do it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as simple as that. This is especially the case when every other restaurant is doing the same thing. Why would you drop a policy if everyone else is doing it?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite too believes that a change in legislation is needed. Help bring about that change by signing our petition here, which calls on the government to stop hospitality bosses pinching tips from staff and to publish its consultation on tipping practices. The consultation is now a full eight months overdue \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we demand action now.
\n
\n*Named changed to protect privacy.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, Unite helped uncover an all-too common practice in the restaurant industry at exclusive restaurant chain the Ivy Collection \u00e2\u20ac\u201c management charging customers \u00e2\u20ac\u015bservice charges\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 that are virtually completely withheld from staff, most of whom earn little more than the minimum wage.   Today, UNITElive hears from James*, a kitchen staff member at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[302,95,340],"wps_subtitle":"We report life for kitchen workers when tips withheld","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11794"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11797,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11794\/revisions\/11797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}