{"id":4241,"date":"2015-05-21T17:12:19","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T16:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4241"},"modified":"2015-05-21T17:12:19","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T16:12:19","slug":"worst-paid-job-in-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4241","title":{"rendered":"Worst paid job in UK"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Waiting tables is, according to the latest figures<\/a>, the worst paid job in the UK.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe vast majority of waiters are on the minimum wage, barely eking out a living from profit-flush companies, even as the cost of living viciously climbs with each year.<\/p>\n

 
\nIf you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a waiter at any restaurant, life is already a struggle, but if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a waiter at Pizza Express, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re served with a double dose of injustice. At Pizza Express, the tips you earn aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all yours.<\/p>\n

 
\nIf a customer tips with a credit card, the pizza chain restaurant, along with a handful of other high street chains, pinches 8 per cent in admin fees from a waiter who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already barely above the breadline.<\/p>\n

 
\nThis brazen theft amounts to an additional \u00c2\u01411m a year for a chain whose operating profits are currently \u00c2\u014155m<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 
\nKieran has been a waiter for more than two decades, and he knows more than anyone how restaurants stiff their workers, often without customers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 knowledge.<\/p>\n

 
\nAt the Heathrow restaurant where Kieran currently works, waiters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 credit card tips are slashed by 30 per cent.
\nHe was one of the dozens who attended two Unite-organised protests in central London today (May 21) to highlight the unfair tip practice, along with other common injustices waiters face, including low-pay and zero-hours contracts.<\/p>\n

 
\nKieran explains how times have changed over the past two decades, during which time wages have dropped and the cost of living has soared.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAbout 15 years ago, my monthly travel card used to be \u00c2\u014120 a month. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even get that for a week now. My rent when I first came here to London was \u00c2\u0141450 for a three bedroom house in Southall. Now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00c2\u01411,400. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more than trebled.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"tips2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 
\nWages fallen<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd my wages have decreased drastically,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added Kieran, who supports five children. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI used to work for a restauarant that gave us commission \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if we brought in, say, \u00c2\u01411,000 a day, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d give us 1 per cent. So I used to make a lot on commission. I used to make about \u00c2\u014127,000 11 years ago, and I looked at my P-60 last week, and it was \u00c2\u014118,000. My wages have fallen by nearly \u00c2\u014110,000 — and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not even taking into account the rise in the cost of living.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nDespite this, however, Kieran explains how the fortunes of he and his colleagues changed with union involvement. Before a campaign launched by Unite, employers were allowed to pay their waiters below the minimum wage, after which they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d top up their wages to the legal minimum with tips. In Kieran\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, he was once earning \u00c2\u01413 an hour. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a practice that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s common in America, but is now, thanks to union pressure, illegal here.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWithout the union you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re nothing,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Duffy, who is now an active union member and negotiates on behalf of his colleagues.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA Burmese waitress where I used to work once told me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Before you came here, we used to get \u00c2\u014194 a week maximum, now we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting at least \u00c2\u0141200.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I calculated that over the period of three and half years since that change, that amounts to \u00c2\u014118,000. And that was all because of the union — because the union supported us and we challenged management together.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nKieran recalls his time working for a French restaurant, where a manager once viciously punched him, simply out of spite. This was the catalyst that inspired him to join a union.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow, when I negotiate with management with the union backing me, the managers treat me with respect; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re polite to me,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese were the same people who years ago punched me and abused me.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite regional officer Dave Turnbull, who spearheaded today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s protests, called the day of action \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunfinished business\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 from Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s original fair tips campaign.<\/p>\n

 
\nCampaign<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe main thrust of that campaign from a few years ago was to prevent employers from using tips to pay their workers the minimum wage,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt was perfectly lawful to do that at that time. So we started that campaign, we publicised the issue, we picketed a lot of restaurants and we got a lot of support from the media, particularly the Daily Mirror, and from the public. And it was successful \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we managed to change the law.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe highlighted many related issues at the time, including admin fees on credit card tips,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turnbull added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt the time, it was quite common for restaurants to charge anything between 8 and 15 per cent to process waiters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 tips. Fortunately since then, it has become less and less common.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nTurnbull said the aim of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s protests was to expose Pizza Express and other restaurants, particularly in the Tragus Group which includes Caf\u0102\u00a9 Rouge, for their claim that admin fees are still common practice.<\/p>\n

 
\nTurnbull added that support from customers was absolutely essential in affecting change.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen you do leave a cash tip, make a point of asking to speak to the manager and say to him categorically, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098The reason I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m leaving this cash tip is because I object to the company taking 8 per cent of the waiter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tip\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe saw this in our original fair tips campaign \u00e2\u20ac\u201c pressure from the customers is just as effective as us picketing restaurants. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s both a workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and consumers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 issue — to make sure that these companies do right by both.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nAs the fight for justice for waiters continues, Turnbull urged more restaurant workers to organise and fight back for their rights.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnion membership is confidential,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said, noting that waiters and other hospitality workers have nothing to fear and nothing to lose from joining. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you decide to join a union, your employer doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to know if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want them to.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to be in the workplace without a union today,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turnbull went on to say. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe now have employment tribunal fees and other continued attacks on workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the only protection workers have got now is through their trade union.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like house insurance \u00e2\u20ac\u201c you wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave your house without insuring it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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

Waiting tables is, according to the latest figures, the worst paid job in the UK.   The vast majority of waiters are on the minimum wage, barely eking out a living from profit-flush companies, even as the cost of living viciously climbs with each year.   If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a waiter at any restaurant, life is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[303,23,95],"wps_subtitle":"Unite protests on National Waiters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Day ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241"}],"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=4241"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4244,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241\/revisions\/4244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}