Pizza Express staff protest as waiters’ hours cut and managers told to do more
Pizza Express is facing a rebellion from employees after announcing a cut to hours for hundreds of waiting staff before 5pm – handing their duties over to restaurant managers.
The changes, poised to be implemented this week, will mean a reduction in pay for as many as 400 hourly paid waiting staff in up to 90 of the group’s 360 restaurants while salaried managers will have an added workload for no extra pay.
Currently managers also do not take a share of the service charge paid by customers so workers questioned what would happen to those payments when no waiters were on duty.
The Unite union, which represents some of Pizza Express’s 10,000 workers, said waiting staff in affected restaurants could lose up to five hours work a day – a cut of £260 a week for those at least 23, and on minimum wage and working five days a week.
One member of staff, a working mother to whom daytime shifts were important, told the Guardian she was losing two-thirds of her hours – or about 12 hours a week, which is equivalent to £125 a week in minimum wage – plus up to £150 of tips.
She said the changes created an “impossible situation” for workers. “It will ruin my life as my income will fall dramatically.”
Another worker said they could lose up to 18 hours – equivalent to £193 a week – plus at least £30 in tips.
A further worker said they expected to lose up to nine hours of work a week – that would be a pay cut of almost £94 a week at the legal minimum wage for those over 23 – before including lost tips which could be a further £30.
In a post on the internal staff messaging system, Slice, seen by the Guardian, one manager wrote: “Nobody asked the managers if we wanted to take the extra job load as we already have so much to do, and now they want us
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