TGI Friday’s UK staff ballot to strike over pay and tips

by XPRESS, 12 April 2018

The Unite union said it would hold strike ballots at two branches every week from Friday (13 April), starting in Milton Keynes and Covent Garden in London.

A protest will be held outside the Covent Garden branch on Friday to mark the start of ballots, which Unite said were the first to hit TGI Friday’s since its first UK restaurant opened in 1986.

Unite has accused TGI Friday’s of using unpaid trial shifts and taking 40% of waiters’ card tips and redistributing them to kitchen staff in lieu of a pay rise.

Unite regional officer Dave Turnbull told the Press Association: “Our members are bravely fighting back against a system that forces workers to live on low pay and without income security.

They have decided to ballot for strike action in a wave of rolling strike ballots over the coming months because their employer has refused to address their concerns on tips and other issues.”

The move follows an announcement that McDonald’s workers at six branches are to be balloted for further strikes over pay and working conditions.

Staff from restaurants in Cambridge and Crayford in London walked out last year in the first strikes in the chain’s history in Britain.

Article credit: Propel info