Unite forces Labour rowback on ‘grossly offensive’ comments about restaurant, bar and cafe workers

The Unite union has forced Labour to row back on “grossly offensive” comments about restaurant, bar and cafe workers, after the government said giving them direct control of tips could see staff discriminate against each other under a ‘tyranny of the majority’.

It emerged on Wednesday that Labour had diluted a pre-election pledge to put hospitality workers in full control of how tips are divvied up between staff as part of its flagship employment rights package.
The proposal was watered down as it “could risk certain groups of workers being disadvantaged by a ‘tyranny of the majority or even indirect discrimination against workers with certain protected characteristics”, according to the government in a policy factsheet online. The reform was also potentially “impractical to enforce”.

READ MORE: It’s bin a year…Unite strikes in Birmingham continue past the 12 month mark

But on Thursday this defence was removed from the document, 30 hours after they were reported in the media and condemned by Unite, one of Britain’s biggest unions and Labour’s largest union donor.

General secretary Sharon Graham had called them “wrong-headed and offensive” and demanded the government withdraw and redraft the statement. Other unions are also reported to have been angered by the comments.

The government is still yet to comment on both the U-turn and the withdrawal of its statement.

JOIN LABOURLIST ‘IN CONVERSATION’ WITH STEVE ROTHERAM ON 3rd FEB

A question in the Q&A section of the policy factsheet – ‘Why are you not handing full control of tip allocation to workers, as you pledged?’ – has also now been removed. It was rewritten instead as ‘What does this mean in practice?’.

The government has not backed down on its plans to ditch direct worker control, however. The revised document says instead that its watered-down alternative – forcing employers to undertake “genuine consultation” with workers – means employers will still be “legally required to directly involve employees in the planning of how their tips will be allocated.”

A further line has also been added emphasising that policy consultation will be “seeking views from employers, employees and other stakeholders on these new requirements”.
The plans build on a new law passed only in October 2024 banning firms from taking a slice of service charges.

That legislation was inherited from the Conservatives, who had first promised a crackdown some nine years earlier after high-street chains were exposed levying admin fees on tips of up to 10%.

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on Bluesky, WhatsApp, X and Facebook.

A Unite spokesperson said: “Removing the wording that was grossly offensive to hospitality workers is a start.

“However until workers have control over their tips, ideally through collective bargaining, employers will continue to devise methods to prevent all the money going to the workers who should be receiving it.”

Unite warned late last year that employers are already exploiting loopholes in the 2024 legislation, such as levying admin fees rather than the now-banned fees on service charges. It is campaigning for a ban on all deductions, something not currently proposed in the government’s latest reforms.

Graham, a former waitress, had told the government on Wednesday: “Using language such “the tyranny of majority” of workers totally fails to appreciate the employment conditions of hospitality workers. The dangers of discrimination and unfairness will come from imposing a tips policy without the workers’ voice.

Share your thoughts. Contribute on this story or tell your own by writing to our Editor. The best letters every week will be published on the site. Find out how to get your letter published.

“The suggestion that vulnerable workers would be disadvantaged by a workers’ tips policy is simply insulting. Many workers in front-of-house positions are low paid, young, women and migrant workers.”

The Department for Business and Trade was approached for comment.