TGI Fridays faces first strike ballots over payment breaches
Trade union Unite announced that it will be balloting workers in two branches.
The American restaurant chain’s Milton Keynes and Covent Garden locations will be balloted from 18 April, due to alleged breaches over the company’s tip and tronc policy and minimum wage abuses.
Troncs are used to distribute card and service charge payments to staff through the company’s pay roll. Tips received through a tronc system are not liable for national insurance and also affect the calculation of statutory payments like maternity pay, pensions and redundancy.
In February, Unite accused TGI Fridays of diverting 40% of card tips paid to waiting staff to distribute among kitchen staff, instead of offering a pay rise in line with the national living wage, which rose by 4.4% to £7.83 p/h on 1 April.
