{"id":16115,"date":"2018-09-10T14:30:52","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T13:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=16115"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:15","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:15","slug":"tuc-tgi-fridays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=16115","title":{"rendered":"‘New life, new energy’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite\u00c2\u00a0delegate Asif Mohammed spoke today (September 10) at TUC conference in a support of a motion on fast food workers as he outlined the plight of TGI Fridays waiters and their historic ongoing strike action.<\/p>\n

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This August bank holiday, Asif said, TGI Fridays waiters at Milton Keynes, Covent Garden and Stratford \u00e2\u20ac\u015btook to the picket line for a historic fifth time.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe campaign is a response to an act which come right out of the play book of the most bullying employers: wage theft.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Asif explained how TGI Fridays management took 40 per cent of waiting staff card tips and used it to top up the wages of kitchen staff \u00e2\u20ac\u201c without notice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bConference, this is a classic example of ‘divide and rule’ \u00e2\u20ac\u201c stealing from one group of workers to avoid paying another a fair wage,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The policy has left waiters around \u00c2\u0141250 a month worse off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat’s a lot of money for anyone,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Asif argued. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut especially if you’re under 20 and you’re only paid \u00c2\u01415.90 an hour to begin with.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fact that CEO Karen Forrester has awarded herself a 40% pay rise, while waiting staff have been left\u00c2\u00a0 40 per cent worse off has only strengthened our members resolve to fight on,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he went on to say.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asif said that TGI Fridays and its treatment of workers shouldn’t be seen in isolation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c poor pay and poor terms and conditions are considered the norm in fast food and hospitality, a norm that he said we must reject.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is about rejecting the very idea of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098McJob\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, rejecting the idea that young workers are disposable,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat we can be chewed up and thrown away at the convenience of some of the biggest businesses in the country.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members also take strength from the knowledge that they are not fighting alone,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fight at TGI Fridays is one part of a global fight by young workers across the fast food industry.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asif highlighted recent victories in the United States such as the Fightfor$15 campaign waged by young McDonalds workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c such victories, Asif said, have \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbreathed new life into the trade union movement in the United States.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He added that a fast food organising campaign can be \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba spark to alight for the wider service industry, bringing new, young members, new life and new energy into our movement,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 as he urged congress to support the motion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The motion was carried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite\u00c2\u00a0delegate Asif Mohammed spoke today (September 10) at TUC conference in a support of a motion on fast food workers as he outlined the plight of TGI Fridays waiters and their historic ongoing strike action.   This August bank holiday, Asif said, TGI Fridays waiters at Milton Keynes, Covent Garden and Stratford \u00e2\u20ac\u015btook to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[94,888,1008],"wps_subtitle":"Unite's Asif Mohammed speaks in support of striking TGI Fridays workers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16115"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16115"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25909,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16115\/revisions\/25909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}