You Gotta' Pick a Pocket or Two!


Been constantly mugged by the artful dodges of the hospitality industry.

Applied a while back for a job as a CDP. The rate offered was £9 an hour.

Had to do a trail shift of 5 hours. Didn't get paid for that.

£45 out of my pocket and into the employers!

Got the job - salary contract based on 40 hours but working 10 hour days for 5 days a week. That's 50 hours a week. Not paid for the extra 10.

£90 every week out of my pocket and into my employers!

Supposed to get half an hour unpaid break every shift - but can never take it due to staff shortages.

£22 out of my pocket every week and into my employers!

Lost a week's holiday because dates were refused due to staff shortages. Couldn't carry over to this year.

£360 out of my pocket and into my employers!

But hang on I haven't been paid for those 10 hours and my holiday pay should be an average - so every time I go on holiday I lose money.

£280 out of my pocket and into my employers!

Had to take some time off because I got sick due to working excessive hours and not getting my breaks. Not paid for the first 3 days.

£216 out of my pocket and into my employers!

I'm down almost £6,000 on the year!

Looks like Fagin is alive and well and operating in a kitchen near you!

It Makes You Sick

A recent survey of over 200 chefs showed that a third returned to work in their kitchens within 48 hours of being absent due to ill health, even when they have been suffering from vomiting or diarrhoea. The report highlights the risks of contamination and infection with obvious reference to food poisoning outbreaks. One press article referred to these early returners as irresponsible chefs.

But who is really acting irresponsibly here? The chefs or the employers?

There can be many reasons for chefs who are sick returning to work before they are fully fit.

For some it is a financial question. A huge number of UK hotels and restaurants offer no contractual sick pay at all. This means you are left with the minimum entitlement of Statutory Sick Pay for which you receive nothing whatsoever for the first 3 days and then a measly £88.45 a week after that. Many chefs simply can't afford to pay their bills on that amount of money and find themselves forced back to work by circumstance when they are still quite ill.

For others it is pressure from their employer. Being pestered constantly as to when they are coming back to work. Or being required by their company policy to phone in every day to explain their absence. Many hotels and restaurants operate a three strikes and you're out principle under their attendance management schemes. Staff who are off sick too long run the risk of being disciplined or dismissed.

There is also loyalty to the brigade. These days kitchens constantly run short staffed. And many chefs who are ill start to feel guilty about the extra hours their colleagues are having to put in to cover for them. Again this is largely a situation created by irresponsible employer action in failing to set pay and conditions at a level which attracts and retains crew members.

Unite's own survey shows that.

78% of chefs have had an accident or near miss due to feeling overtired

51% are suffering depression due to overwork

56% take painkillers to see them through their shift

Creating a climate where chefs feel forced or obliged to come back to work before they are fully fit simply makes a bad situation worse and it is conditions like this that are driving people out of the industry. Time to organise to change this - email -chefscombine@gmail.com