Contract caterers agree that wages are still too low

Leading contract caterers have admitted that they are paying their staff inadequately and that in some cases wages are getting worse.

Many are "living on another planet" when it comes to paying their staff decent money, said Linda Halliday, chief executive of Halliday Catering Services, at the Contract Catering Survey 2000 presentation at Hotelympia last week.

Halliday called for the big companies in the industry to agree an increase to the minimum wage (£3.60 an hour) in order to attract more staff into contract catering.

"I suspect that few of our clients pay their staff £3.60 an hour.

"We need to convince clients that if they want good staff that they need to pay for it. It's up to all of us, we need to do it," she said.

Robyn Jones, managing director of Charlton House Catering Services, said that, despite the introduction of the minimum wage, pay was in fact being driven down and that caterers needed to increase wages to attract the desired calibre of staff.

But, while agreeing that the current minimum wage of £3.60 an hour was too little, other contract caterers argued that to increase it would threaten their competitiveness.

Tim West, chief executive of Elior UK, said: "I think it is dreadful that £3.60 an hour can be considered suitable to survive on. I would be happy to put it up to £5, but it is about market forces."

William McCall, chief executive of Aramark, said: "I would like to pay more money. It's a competitive thing. It's a challenge but not a straight-forward one."

The Government is planning to put the minimum wage up to £3.70 an hour this October.

by Christina Golding