On September 27th 2007 the Restaurant & Bar Workers
Branch of UNITE the Union organised a Day of Action to protest against
employers who implement unfair and unjust rules regarding the distribution
of customer tips to waiting staff.
One such company is Pizza Express. Our members in
the company had complained for some time that it was unfair for their
employer to deduct a 'so-called' administration fee of 8% for processing
customer tips paid on credit cards and on the service charge levied
on the menu. In other words 8p in every £1 left for staff goes
back to the company.
One of the union members who participated in the Day
of Action was Nabil Guirguis a Pizza Express manager with 17 years
service. During the event Nabil was interviewed by both the BBC and
ITV. He commented during the interview that many staff were unhappy
with the 8% levy on their tips and that surely the company could think
of a better way of making profit than taking money from staff.
The company have stated they believe the system is
fair and that they are not doing anything unlawful. Yet they accused
Nabil of bringing Pizza Express into disrepute by drawing attention
to this practice. On the 20th of December, 5 days before Christmas,
Nabil was dismissed for "Bringing the company into disrepute
and breaking our rules on commenting to the media in your media comments,
in respect of out Tronc system."
An appeal was lodged against this grossly unfair and
unjustified decision. However, the company refused to overturn the
decision.
We say that Nabil Gurguis was legally engaged in legitimate
trade union activity in his own time on September 27th and that he
has the right to freedom of speech. He should not be penalised for
telling the truth!
We are urging the company to re-instate him with immediate effect
and to pay the loss of earnings he has suffered since 20th December
2007.
We are seeking your
support………………
· We are asking the public to
Boycott Pizza Express until Nabil's case is brought to a satisfactory
conclusion.
· We are asking that you show
support by signing our petition asking for Nabil Guirguis to be re-instated.
