Unite, the UK’s leading union, which represents thousands of hospitality workers, is demanding that a flawed draft code of practice concerning tipping policy, is withdrawn to allow for proper consultation.
Government reneged on promise
The government has reneged on its promise to give workers full control on the allocation of tips. Instead, the government is requiring employers to merely consult on how tips will be allocated. The code confirms, following such a “consultation” employers will have carte blanche to decide which workers will receive tips.
Unite believes that the failure to give workers control over their tips will disadvantage the lowest paid, who are often on precarious contracts. Instead, tips can be used to offset the underpayment of other workers such as kitchen staff, alternatively managers will be able to keep some of the tips for themselves.
Workers must control tips
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Workers should have control over their own tips pure and simple. Most customers assume they do anyway. Giving managers control, even letting them keep a slice for themselves, is clearly unfair.
“The government messed this up the first time in their code of practice on tipping. The fact that they are now repeating the same mistakes in a revised version that was supposed to address workers concerns is genuinely concerning.”
To add insult to injury the government has failed to consult on the detail of the code on tipping unlike other parts of the Employment Rights Act.
In January Unite forced the government to withdraw a fact sheet on tipping which included insulting language such as “the tyranny of the majority of workers” that demeaned collective bargaining and wrongly suggested that workers with protected characteristics could lose out from a workers’ tips policy.
Flawed code must be withdrawn
Unite lead organiser for hospitality Bryan Simpson said: “This new flawed code of practice must be withdrawn. The government is showing contempt for hospitality workers who are among the most vulnerable in the economy, by not even consulting on its plans.”
“Labour promised to give workers greater control over their tips. That promise must now be honoured.”