TUC exposes poor wage protection
By David Shrimpton
Employees in hotels and catering are working longer hours for less pay than four years ago, when they had minimum pay protection, claims a TUC report out today.
The survey examines the impact of the abolition of the wages councils in 1993 on pay levels in the sector.
It shows that minimum pay, set at £2.92 an hour in 1992, has fallen or stayed the same in a third of the companies surveyed. The trend was most marked in small hotels.
Between 70% and 100% of staff in the establishments surveyed were paid the basic minimum rate.
The report also found that some respondents had abolished overtime pay to save money. One said that anyone asking for overtime rates would be dismissed - staff should be grateful for being able to work longer hours, thus increasing their basic earnings.
Following the abolition of wages councils, more than one in four employers now have no provision for an annual pay review, the survey says.
In the absence of a pay floor, financial performance has become the dominant factor in determining wages. Again, the trend is particularly strong among small hotels, who pay little or no regard to external labour market conditions.
TUC general secretary John Monks remarked: "The experience of the hotel and catering industry proves the truth of Winston Churchill's comment that, without a floor under wages, the good will be undercut by the bad and the bad will be undercut by the worst."
