'We want to ensure that everyone is treated fairly'
Restaurants and pubs will be barred from taking a cut from workers’ tips, UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced.
The government will introduce legislation that will ban high street restaurant chains from deducting up to 10% from the tips given to waiters and bar staff.
“We want to ensure that everyone is treated fairly in the workplace,” the prime minister said, adding the measure is “another way we are building an economy that works for everyone”.
The practice of taking a cut has ceased for some, but restaurant chains that had been deducting 10% included Belgo, Cafe Rouge, Bella Italia, Strada, Giraffe, and Prezzo. Ask and Zizzi had been snipping off 8%.
The plan comes after workers at UK outlets of TGI Fridays mounted a series of strikes. Employees of the US restaurant chain were protesting against a management policy that aimed to direct 40% of their tips, left by customers paying with credit or debit cards, to kitchen staff instead of the restaurant giving back-of-house workers a raise.
In 2016, government consultation showed customers were “overwhelmingly in favour of the tips they pay going to the people that serve them”.
Trade union Unite said the proposal has been “a long time coming”. Regional officer Dave Turnbull said: “Unite will be seeking assurances from ministers that the legislation the government introduces truly delivers fair tips for some of the lowest paid workers in the UK and that it is done so in a timely manner.”
About 150,000 hotels, restaurants, and pubs employ 1.8 million hospitality workers in the UK.
