{"id":14159,"date":"2017-12-15T14:29:08","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T14:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14159"},"modified":"2017-12-18T12:36:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T12:36:45","slug":"spare-a-thought-tip-in-cash-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14159","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Spare a thought&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Christmastime and with it comes presents, time with family and friends, work parties and very often having a meal out.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In fact, this evening (Friday December 15) marks the night that is considered the biggest night out of the holiday period with the greatest number of Christmas parties. Bars and restaurants will be brimming with revellers as staff scramble to make sure we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re attended to.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thanks to them that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re able to have a fun night out. We often show our gratitude by tipping especially at this time of year but what many people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know is that restaurant staff often don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the tips you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve given them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As Unite has highlighted in the video below, a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098discretionary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 service charge that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s automatically added to your bill \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s usually about 12.5 per cent \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is not the same as a tip.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It legally belongs to the business and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s used in many cases to pay for till shortages, customer walkouts, breakages or to top up manager\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wages. In some restaurants, staff don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see a single penny of the service charge. And if you tip by card, some restaurants will skim a percentage of this tip in \u00e2\u20ac\u0098admin fees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, often without a patron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fYcqLYbKrsw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why this Christmas, Unite is asking that you request that any service charge be removed from the bill \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re paying by card, leave a tip separately in cash.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One Unite member explained how in places where she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worked before, management has specifically told staff not to tell customers that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get their fair share of the tips.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Another member tells of how low-wages \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a large percentage of restaurant workers earn only the minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c means tips become a lifeline.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015b[Tips] sort my food out; and my travel out,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he says.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Unite regional officer Dave Turnbull urged people to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bspare a thought for their server and tip in cash this Christmas\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 as \u00e2\u20ac\u015brestaurant workers and bartenders brace themselves for their busiest night of the festive period.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you want to show your appreciation for good service then please tip in cash,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bA cash tip is much more likely to go to the people who deserve it; the low paid waiters and kitchen staff who helped make your night special and not gobbled up by greedy bosses.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCustomers need to beware that service charge is not a tip. In some restaurants workers may not get a penny of it. It belongs to the business so they can do what they like with it, using it to cover everything from customers walking out with paying to topping up senior staff wages. This is why we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re urging diners to get it taken off and tip in cash this Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Turnbull also said the most festive day of the year should be used as a clarion call to the government to get its house in order over its inquiry into tipping practices.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The government launched a two-month consultation in May last year over dodgy tipping practices. But 19 months after submissions to the consultation closed, the <a href=\"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/why-are-we-waiting-3\/\">long-promised report is yet to be published.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government needs to stop dragging its feet and release its long overdue report on tipping,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turnbull said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUntil it does rogue bosses will continue to find new loopholes to exploit and the confusion around tipping will persist.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Unite will be pushing the message to tip on cash on all its social media channels today and throughout the festive period. Join us in getting the word out and share our ViF below:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-JmhgbNZErE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Christmastime and with it comes presents, time with family and friends, work parties and very often having a meal out. &nbsp; In fact, this evening (Friday December 15) marks the night that is considered the biggest night out of the holiday period with the greatest number of Christmas parties. Bars and restaurants will be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[648,303,95,846],"wps_subtitle":"Unite urges everyone to tip in cash this Xmas","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14159"}],"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=14159"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14162,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14159\/revisions\/14162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}