Tis the season to protest for fair pay. First tube cleaners, then council staff. Last night, waiting staff at Italian chain Carluccios, supported by community group London Citizens joined the call for a living wage. Diners at the Canary Wharf branch were interrupted at their pasta as protestors hoiked up a banner outside the E14 restaurant about their dubious wage terms.
As the Independent reports:
The company claims that, as a result, waiters are paid an average hourly wage of about £8 an hour and, if their wages fall short, the pay is topped up.
Staff at Carluccio's in Canary Wharf are, in fact, paid a basic hourly wage of £3.75. The legal minimum wage, from 1 October, will be 5.73.
We've seen Kitchen Nightmares. We know that restaurateuring is a tricky business, full of idiots with slight margins going bust on every corner but when you're a corporate PLC with the audacity to charge nearly £5 for a starter of toast and tomatoes (brushetta, anyone?) you think you'd have the sense of responsibility to guarantee your waiting staff minimum wage, at the very least.
And if you've ever mused whether that 'optional' 12.5 or 15% on top of your bill actually goes to the person bringing the tab to you, check out The Independent's report and campaign for fairer tipping. We think you might revert to tipping cash only in the meantime.
Image courtesy of Kate Pugh's Flickrstream under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
