Flouting the restaurant rules
In a recent post, Manas pointed out the dismal performance of employers in the hospitality industry, who display a total disregard for their employees on the Restarurant, Tearoom and Catering Award:
[O]ver 90% of employers surveyed breached the award in some way, with more than 65% of those employers failing to pay even the correct hourly rate, and 12 % failing to pay proper weekend work entitlements.
It’s not surprising, then, that a television competition involving restaurants would show the same contempt for its workers.
Sydney’s Pink Salt restaurant thinks it’s okay to vary its staff’s pay without informing them, cutting their wages by $300 a week and failing to give them pay slips. Apparently $10 an hour is an acceptable rate for a qualified sous chef.
The wannabe restaurateur says it was merely a “misunderstanding” and that he was “naive,” but as he’s an accountant by trade I expect him to be on top of these very basic issues.
Feel free to let Pink Salt know that they’ve lost your vote.
even as a matter of rational self-interest, the last place where i’d want employers squeezing their employees is a restaurant. they could get back by spitting/pissing in your food! that should be enough of a market-based disincentive!
I’m with you Jason. The two groups of people in the world who you should not f*ck with are the people who administer the computers at your workplace, and the people who prepare your food.
As far as matters of rational self-interest go, I think this little episode shows the real role of AWAs in industrial relations. They’re designed for employers, not staff.
There are many points of critical infrastructure where you don’t want to mess with the people. Often too they only pay minimum wage to the person which is really kind of stupid. Take my present job for example which is a crappy kind of job that nobody wants to do but the entire business relys on my workmates and mate to do it properly. Last year, they suddenly realised this and our average hourly rate increased almost 25%.
I dare say a dead rat in a bowl of soup would result in you not working again but I don’t think anyone eat there either.
You know, blair, a simpler solution would just be to unionise.
I have. Hence the 25% pay rise.