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Mittwoch, den 16. Juli 2008
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Untersuchung vorbei Martin Hickman, Simon Usborne und Andrew Grice | Gaststätten Großbritanniens sahnen weg von den Millionen von zerstößt von den Kunden' Spitzen, um ihre Profite, eine Untersuchung durch das Unabhängige aufzuladen hat gefunden.

 

Eine Reihe zugelassene Tricke werden von den Hauptfirmen einschließlich Strada, PizzaExpress und Carluccios verwendet, um einer Scheibe des £4bn ein Jahr zu dauern, das Restaurants für niedrig-zahlenden Personal in den Spitzen lassen.

Heute stößt das Unabhängige eine Kampagne aus, um die Behandlung des der Kellner und der Kellnerinnen Landes 231.845 zu verbessern - und sicherzugehen, daß Kunden wissen, wohin ihr Geld geht, wenn sie eine Spitze lassen.

Die meisten Gaststättekunden glauben, daß Personal umkippen oder die Bearbeitungskosten als Belohnung für guten Service empfängt. Aber unsere Untersuchung hat entdeckt, daß die Spitzen, die durch Restaurants gelassen werden, regelmäßig verwendet werden, um grundlegende Löhne zu zahlen oder Kosten decken Sie.

Unter der Praxis das Unabhängige gefunden:

Der *Carluccios, das Café Rouge, Chez Gerard, Strada und Café Uno alles zahlen ihren Personal weniger, als die minimaler Lohn- und Gebrauchkunden' neigt, um die Balance in ihren Angestellten zu bilden' Bezahlung;

*PizzaExpress nimmt einen 8-Prozent-Schnitt von Spitzen nach links auf einer Kreditkarte;

*One Kette der asiatischen Gaststätten, Georgetown, nimmt 100 Prozent Spitzen;

*Staff bei einem London Restaurant empfangen keinen grundlegenden Lohn an allen.

Gestern Abend, gewann die Kampagne des Unabhängigen den Schutzträger von MPs von allen Parteien und die Gewerkschaft vereinigen.

Stephen Byers, der den nationalen minimalen Lohn vorstellte, als er Geschäfts- und Industrie-Sekretärin war, sagte: „Tätigkeit wird jetzt benötigt, um Gerechtigkeit sicherzustellen, also wissen Kunden, wann sie eine Spitze für gutservice lassen, es geht zum einzelnen beteiligten und ist nicht eine Extrasumme Geld für den Arbeitgeber oder den Gaststätteinhaber.

„Schlitze im System werden von den unscrupulous Gaststätteinhabern ausgenutzt. Wir müssen die Schlitze schließen, also erhält fleißiger Personal die Belohnungen, die ihre Kunden sie haben wünschen.“

Der Peter Luff, konservativer Vorsitzender des Geschäfts und Unternehmen-auserwählter Ausschuß, dort bestätigt waren „Ausnutzung“ der Arbeiter im Gastfreundschaftsektor. „Niemand sollte zahlend sein alles kleiner als der minimale Lohn. Sie sollten nicht von der Nächstenliebe abhängen müssen, um einen zugelassenen Lohn zu erhalten,“ er sagte.

Sarah Teather, Sprecherin der liberalen Demokraten' auf dem Geschäft und Unternehmen, addiert: “It’s great that The Independent is highlighting such an important issue and I wholeheartedly back the campaign.”

In 2006, Britons spend £37.6bn spent on food and drink in restaurants, according to the British Hospitality Association. At 12 per cent, tips for waiting staff should approach £4.7bn a year.

But restaurants are using several loopholes to take a portion of the money. The practices are believed to have intensified with the rise of electronic payments and the introduction of the chip and pin system in 2006. Among the most popular is the exploitation of a loophole in minimum wage legislation. Restaurants have won the right to pay staff below the minimum wage of £5.52 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older. Staff are paid as little as £3 or £4, with the remainder topped up by tips.

In a few cases, such as at Tuttons restaurant in Covent Garden, the staff receive no “pay” at all: their wages are derived entirely from tips left by diners.

Other waiters are forced to pay restaurant chains hundreds of millions of pounds in sales fees for “administering” tips. Other establishments make deductions as a result of breakages or customers leaving without paying.

One waitress at a London restaurant complained: “Some of us work two jobs and you could be on your feet maybe 80 hours a week with no weekends. If you’re earning £5 an hour and tips go to management, there isn’t the incentive to give customers the best service.”

The Independent looked at the practices of 12 chains that operate 1,300 of Britain’s 26,600 restaurants and turn over almost £1bn a year. They include some of the biggest names in the business.

Britain’s second biggest chain the Tragus Group, which runs Strada, Bella Italia, the French bistro chain Café Rouge and the Belgian beer and frites chain Belgo, also dips into tips to reach the minimum wage. Paramount Restaurants also employs the practice at its Café Uno and Chez Gerrard brands.

At the Nobu Japanese restaurant in London, waiters claim they saw nothing of a £150 service charge on a £1,000 bill and an extra tip of £100.

Gondola Holdings, Britain’s largest casual dining giant with annual sales of £228m, deducts an 8 per cent administration charge from tips to staff at PizzaExpress. A waiter at PizzaExpress, Nabil Guirguis, was allegedly dismissed for talking to the media about the practice, which the private equity company insists is fair. The British Hospitality Association, which represents restaurants, denied that its members were mean – and blamed the Inland Revenue for failing to provide a clear lead. Its deputy chief executive, Martin Couchman, said that there were “legitimate” costs involved in distributing service charges and credit card tips.

“It’s perfectly legal to top up to the minimum wage,” he said.

“Evidence from recent controversy is that, overall, people are earning more than the minimum wage. It’s legal and its one of the things that arose from the Inland Revenue interpretation, which was very confused for a long period.”

Restaurateurs also maintain that their use of tips to top up, or replace, their wages incentivises staff. “Our waiters get a salary depending on how good or bad they are,” said Kumar Muthalagappan, the founder and owner of Pearl Hotels and Restaurants Group.

Unite, however, believes that staff should receive all their tips. Len McCluskey, Unite assistant general secretary, argued that low paid workers deserved a better deal on tips. “The Government must take action so that everyone can tip with confidence,” he said. “Customers want to know their tips are going to the hard-working staff who serve them.”

The Independent is urging restaurants to run an equitable and transparent policy on disbursements to staff – and to disclose that policy on menus.

We are also calling on the Government to end the minimum wage loophole, ensuring that staff are automatically paid the minimum wage in full.

Three simple steps for just deserts

Today, The Independent sets out three simple guidelines for fair treatment of waiting staff, asking that the Government introduces legislation to end the widespread unfair tipping practices adopted by many of Britain’s restaurants:

1) All restaurants should operate a fair, clear and transparent policy for distributing service charges and gratuities to its staff.

2) All restaurants should display their policy on service charges and gratuities clearly on all of the menus.

3) All waiting staff should be guaranteed a basic salary of at least the minimum wage, excluding gratuities.

See More:UK News 

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Business News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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