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Mercoledì 16 luglio 2008
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Ricerca vicino Martin Hickman, Simon Usborne ed Andrew Grice | I ristoranti della Gran-Bretagna stanno scremando fuori di milioni di libbre punte dei clienti' per amplificare i loro profitti, una ricerca dal Independent ha trovato.

 

Una serie di stratagemmi legali sta usanda dalle aziende importanti compreso Strada, PizzaExpress e Carluccio per occorrere ad una fetta del £4bn un l'anno che i diners lasciano per il personale basso-paid nelle punte.

Oggi, il Independent lancia una campagna per migliorare il trattamento dei camerieri e dei waitresses del paese 231.845 - e per accertarsi che i clienti sappiano dove i loro soldi stanno andando quando lasciano una punta.

La maggior parte dei clienti del ristorante credono che il personale ricevi le punte o la spesa per i servizi come ricompensa per buon servizio. Ma la nostra ricerca ha scoperto che le punte lasciate dai diners stanno usande regolarmente per pagare gli stipendi di base, o addossi gli oneri.

Fra le pratiche, il Independent ha trovato:

I *Carluccio, il rossetto di Café, Chez Gerard, Strada e Café Uno tutto pagano il loro personale più di meno di i clienti di uso e dello stipendio minimo' si capovolge per comporre l'equilibrio paga nei loro impiegati';

i *PizzaExpress prende un taglio di 8 per cento delle punte a sinistra su una carta di credito;

la catena dei ristoranti asiatici, Georgetown del *One, prende 100 per cento delle punte;

il *Staff ad un eatery de Londra non riceve stipendio di base affatto.

La notte scorsa, la campagna del Independent ha vinto la protezione di MPs da tutti i partiti ed il sindacato unisce.

Stephen Byers, che ha introdotto lo stipendio minimo nazionale quando era segretaria di industria e commerciale, ad esempio: “L'azione ora è necessaria per accertare l'imparzialità, in modo da i clienti sanno quando lasciano una punta per servizio di merce, esso va al diverso interessato e non è una somma supplementare di soldi per il datore di lavoro o il proprietario del ristorante.

“Le scappatoie nel sistema stanno sfruttande dai proprietari senza scrupoli del ristorante. Dobbiamo chiudere le scappatoie in modo da il personale hard-working ottiene le ricompense che i loro clienti le desiderano avere.„

Il Luff del Peter, il presidente conservatore del commercio ed il comitato ristretto di impresa, riconosciuti là erano “sfruttamento„ degli operai nel settore di ospitalità. “Nessuno dovrebbe essere paid qualche cosa di meno che lo stipendio minimo. Non dovrebbero dovere dipendere dalla carità per ottenere uno stipendio legale,„ ha detto.

Sarah Teather, spokeswoman delle carbossimetilazioni liberali' sul commercio e sull'impresa, aggiunti: “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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