{"id":29044,"date":"2021-06-01T14:01:26","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T13:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=29044"},"modified":"2021-06-02T13:15:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T12:15:09","slug":"anger-as-pizza-express-deducts-wait-staff-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=29044","title":{"rendered":"Anger as Pizza Express deducts wait staff tips"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pizza Express is facing a massive backlash from wait staff and customers after the chain restaurant has been found to again be unfairly deducting staff tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite has reiterated its call for the government to urgently introduce tips legislation when on May 17, the day Pizza Express reopened, the restaurant suddenly decreased the percentage wait staff keep on card tips from 70 per cent to 50 per cent. Pizza Express workers reported they were only told about the change 10 days before reopening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move will see wait staff — who already struggle as it is earning only the minimum wage as their base pay — lose up to \u00c2\u01412,000 a year. Pizza Express staff have already reported a significant decrease in their take home pay when the restaurant reopened because a shift to contactless payments has meant far fewer customers tip in cash, which waiters keep in full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the weekend, the Observer <\/em>spoke to Pizza Express staff <\/a>who highlighted the impact that the new card tips deductions have had on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy wages have nosedived,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 one Pizza Express worker told the Observer<\/em>. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe reality is everybody I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m working with is on minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so that is council tax or a dental bill.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pizza Express has justified deducting waiting staff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s card tips so that the tips can be split with kitchen staff such as chefs and cleaners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But another Pizza Express worker explained how waiting staff have had to face changes to their contracts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c  such as the scrapping of paid breaks and extra pay on Sundays and Bank holidays — that mean they have to rely on tips to get by in a way that kitchen staff don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worker said that compared to kitchen staff, wait staff are given fewer hours, had lower basic pay and are not eligible for bonuses. Unite has also highlighted that Pizza Express is swiping wait staff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tips so that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to pay kitchen staff competitive wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe reality is [waiting staff] have to rely on tips,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the worker told the Observer<\/em>. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen we signed the contract that was the understanding. We are not arguing that chefs and cleaners don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t contribute to service but we agreed to certain terms.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pizza Express has claimed that card tips are managed through a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098tronc\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 system, where a committee of workers ostensibly decide how card tips are distributed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but Pizza Express staff have said that this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in fact the case. Instead, the tronc system is led by a head office member who was not elected by wait staff. Staff told the Observer<\/em> that there is a total lack of transparency over the tronc system, with minutes from meetings not available to staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite will now be revamping its long-running campaign on tips justice, and argues that the government must now urgently keeps its promises \u00e2\u20ac\u201c first made in 2016 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to introduce tips legislation that would ban businesses from swiping staff tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has pledged on three separate occasions, including in the Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Speech in 2019, that it would introduce laws to tackle tipping abuses but so far no action has been taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite has also said that such laws are absolutely essential at a time when the hospitality industry is facing massive staff shortages \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a consequence, industry insiders have speculated, of Brexit and many hospitality workers leaving the industry permanently during the pandemic to take up new opportunities in different sectors.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting, Unite national officer for hospitality David Turnbull said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnfortunately Pizza Express, like far too many hospitality employers, appears to see its members of staff less as human beings and more as assets to be used or disposed of at will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt was only a few months ago that Pizza Express fired 2,500 loyal employees instead of registering them on the job retention scheme,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow the company is seeking to hire 1,000 workers, a process made more difficult by sector-wide labour shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut rather than pay kitchen workers competitive wages to attract applications, Pizza Express is boosting back of house pay by depriving its minimum wage waiting staff of their hard-earned tips, which form a substantial part of their income,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turnbull continued. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis policy will only lead to more staffing problems, as poorly remunerated workers vote with their feet and potential new hires decide to apply elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHospitality employers like Pizza Express should not be taking advantage of low paid waiting staff and pitting its employees against each other,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he went on to say. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bInstead, restaurants should pay their kitchen workers a decent wage and allow front of house staff 100 per cent of their hard-earned tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn an ideal world waiting staff would be paid enough not to rely on tips. The unlikelihood of that happening, however, means Unite is calling on the government to deliver on its 2019 Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Speech commitment and bring in its promised Fair Tips legislation. This must include a statutory code which provides access to remedy for workers who believe Tronc decisions are being unfairly manipulated to the benefit of their employer.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Pizza Express is facing a massive backlash from wait staff and customers after the chain restaurant has been found to again be unfairly deducting staff tips. Unite has reiterated its call for the government to urgently introduce tips legislation when on May 17, the day Pizza Express reopened, the restaurant suddenly decreased the percentage wait […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[302,366,907],"wps_subtitle":"Hospitality tipping law needed as Pizza Express becomes latest restaurant to unfairly deduct staff tips","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29044"}],"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=29044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29046,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29044\/revisions\/29046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}