{"id":28621,"date":"2021-04-27T13:04:34","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T12:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=28621"},"modified":"2021-04-28T14:18:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T13:18:12","slug":"chefs-demand-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=28621","title":{"rendered":"Chefs demand better"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When the pandemic first hit, chefs were already burned out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excessive working hours \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sometimes as many as 70 hours a week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has long been an industry norm. Compounding the problem is the fact that the vast majority of chefs are on salaried contracts and so are not entitled to overtime pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The link between excessive working hours and a compromised immune system has long been indisputably and scientifically established \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and for far too many chefs in the last year, this link would prove to be fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of the pandemic, a total of 82 chefs have died after contracting coronavirus according to data from the Office for National Statistics  \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is among the highest Covid-19 death rates out of any occupation in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These chefs who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve paid the ultimately price adds yet another devastating layer of loss for this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s International Workers Memorial Day on Wednesday (April 28).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite rep Kevin Reynolds, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been working as a chef for twenty years, lays the blame squarely on an excessive working hours\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 culture that has spun out of control in an unregulated, mostly non-unionised sector.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he says this culture has only become worse amid the pandemic for the many chefs who continued to work in takeaway kitchens as demand for takeaways have exploded during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway demand explosion<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA chef who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been working in a takeaway kitchen during the pandemic will typically be going in early in the morning, working flat out all day, every day producing takeaway boxes,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kevin explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey will be working loads of overtime because the demand for takeaway has gone up substantially.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working conditions during the pandemic have also deteriorated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI recently dealt with a case of a member whose workplace had no Covid risk assessment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the kitchen was poorly ventilated, social distancing was all but ignored, and the employer failed to provide adequate PPE,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kevin told UniteLive. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe employer was also fraudulently claiming furlough \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all his pay slips said he was on furlough when in fact he had been working the whole way through.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such cases are become more and more pervasive at a time when so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098dark kitchens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 have expanded significantly during the pandemic. These kitchens make meals for delivery only and are often not tied to any specific restaurant. Deliveroo, for example, operates about 250 such kitchens in eight countries as part of its Deliveroo Editions venture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark kitchens are often located at the back of industrial estates and warehouse complexes, in a series of metal makeshift buildings similar in size to shipping containers. The obscurity of their physical premises matches the mystery of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on inside \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t call them \u00e2\u20ac\u0098dark kitchens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for nothing, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDark kitchens are a relatively new phenomenon that have really grown during the pandemic. Our biggest concerns about these kitchens is they that they fly under the radar \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no transparency,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kevin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe member who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d come to me about his employer having no Covid risk assessment in place and fraudulently claiming furlough worked in a dark kitchen.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just dark kitchens that have failed the chefs who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked so hard both before and during the pandemic \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even big name restaurants are brazenly treating their loyal workforce with contempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin pointed to the recent case of a chef who was working for the prestigious Six by Nico restaurant group making high-end meal boxes for the group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new \u00e2\u20ac\u0098makeaway meal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 offshoot, Home-X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chef was regularly working unpaid overtime, despite the fact that in his contract, overtime should be paid. When he sent an email to his bosses asking when he would receive the overtime pay, which he calculated to be more than 200 hours, or \u00c2\u01412000, he was sacked the very next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI was constantly asked to come in early and go home late because the business was booming, doing thousands of boxes a week,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the chef told the Daily Record<\/em><\/a>. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI just wanted what was fair for me and for the rest of the staff who were working so hard.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite has now taken on this chef\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case and is pursuing an industrial tribunal, claiming the chef faced \u00e2\u20ac\u0098automatic unfair dismissal and breach of contract\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Chefs have had enough\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such shocking cases are far from being isolated instances, as a Unite survey this year of more than a thousand chefs revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About one in four chefs said that their employer had failed to take the pandemic seriously, with 63 per cent reporting that they were not consulted on or issued Covid-19 safety guidelines. A third said they believed their employer had actively put them at risk during the pandemic, while half of those surveyed said their bosses took advantage of the pandemic to rewrite their contracts and put them on worse pay, terms and conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a huge proportion of chefs, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re at the end of their tether \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 40 per cent reported they were considering leaving the trade altogether, citing long hours, insufficient pay and a stressful working environment as the main reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor many chefs who were furloughed, the pandemic was their first decent time off to rest in years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kevin explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a strong sense that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to go back to being paid a relative pittance for working 70 hours a week. Chefs have had enough.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite predicts a huge exodus of chefs, especially among the most experienced, which will lead to major staff shortages \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a problem that will be only exacerbated by the end of freedom of movement precipitated by Brexit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Kevin and Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hospitality sector strongly believe there is another way \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and that starts with changing the excessive hours\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe industry is completely unregulated and trade union density has been pretty low among chefs for decades,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kevin explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis has meant that employers have been able to get away with murder. Many chefs aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even aware of the Working Time Directive. And those chefs that do try to enforce it end up getting frowned upon by their colleagues because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s simply this accepted part of the culture.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Better deal for chefs in 2021\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite is now calling for a change in the law so that chefs are automatically protected by the Working Time Directive \u00e2\u20ac\u201c still in place even though the UK has left the EU \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which limits the working week to 48 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt has become standard practice for hospitality bosses to insert the voluntary \u00e2\u20ac\u0098opt-out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 from the Working Time Directive into employment contracts,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 explained Unite national officer for hospitality Dave Turnbull. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis means that by signing these contracts chefs and other workers automatically \u00e2\u20ac\u0098opt out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 without actually proactively wanting to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe employers then underpin this deception, with chefs in particular, by placing them on salaried pay rather than hourly rates,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis results in excessive hours and, in many cases, underpayment of the minimum wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever, workers who have \u00e2\u20ac\u0098opted out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 have a legal right to issue written notice that they want to opt back in to limit their average week to 48 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are calling all chefs to protect their wellbeing by opting back into the 48 hour maximum working week and that contracts which make a 48 hour \u00e2\u20ac\u0098opt out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 an employment condition to be outlawed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turnbull continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is a clear case for the legislation to be strengthened to stamp out these abuses across the hospitality sector, which is already suffering from a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098recruitment and retention\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 crisis as restaurants, pubs and bars emerge from the Covid lockdown restrictions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing such legislation has never been more important than now, when so many chefs have sacrificed their lives at the altar of an excessive working hours\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 culture that is in desperate need of reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite Hospitality will be holding a minute\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s silence on International Workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Memorial Day  tomorrow to pay tribute to the chefs who have died during the pandemic and will also host a special Zoom event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPart of our event will be to honour the lives lost, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also about fighting for a better deal for chefs in 2021,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kevin explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will discuss how we can tackle the issues that impact on chefs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives \u00e2\u20ac\u201c whether that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s poor contracts, excessive overtime, safety at work, or even sexual harassment which has become a huge issue in the industry.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, Kevin said trade union membership was vital for chefs as he encouraged them to join Unite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only way things will change,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bChefs have to take ownership in their own hands \u00e2\u20ac\u201cthe only people who are going to be able to change the long-hours culture and working conditions are the chefs themselves standing up in the workplace and fighting alongside their colleagues to demand better.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can find out more information about Unite Hospitality\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Workers Memorial Day Zoom event for chefs in the flyer below. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Hajera Blagg<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the pandemic first hit, chefs were already burned out. Excessive working hours \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sometimes as many as 70 hours a week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has long been an industry norm. Compounding the problem is the fact that the vast majority of chefs are on salaried contracts and so are not entitled to overtime pay. The link […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,17],"tags":[1630,1295,303,1384,424,516],"wps_subtitle":"Chefs have among the highest Covid-19 death rates in the UK. Now Unite is calling for a new deal for chefs in its fight against excessive hours","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28621"}],"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=28621"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28628,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28621\/revisions\/28628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}