Big restaurant chains ripping off waiters

Many large restaurants, such as Carluccios, Pizza Empress and Cafe Rouge are coming under the spotlight for their practices on tips for waiters. Customers are confused about what’s really going on. After a meal, most still tip, believing the tip will go to the waiter. Apparently not.

It seems some of the largest chains pay their waiters below the minimum wage, using tips to ‘top up’. This is legal. Or many take chunks out of the tips, for ‘administration’ etc. An expensive restaurant in London’s Covent Garden does not even pay any wages ….. it uses the tips.

A scandal for nearly a quarter of a million waiters in the country. Here’s an excerpt from the Independent newspaper……

 

“…… what would you think if you discovered that a hefty chunk of your tip is in fact winging its way into the business account of the company that owns the restaurant? Or that, even with your generous tip, your waiter is still only taking home little more than the minimum wage?

Increasingly, some of Britain’s biggest restaurant chains are using loopholes in the byzantine system of laws and guidelines that govern the hospitality industry to concoct tipping and service-charge policies that most of us would consider simply unfair, if not scandalous.

Usually, it’s the low-paid workers – the waiters – who are losing out. Diners are routinely kept in the dark about restaurants’ policies, which are rarely the same from one establishment to the next – and waiters who break ranks to explain the rules to the tables they serve can face suspension, or even dismissal.

Now, a growing band of disgruntled waiters, confused customers and enraged union representatives is calling on the Government to close the loopholes and halt the growing problem of unfairness in tipping.

Today, The Independent joins forces with Unite, the union that represents workers in the hospitality industry, to get a better deal for waiters and customers. Dave Turnbull, Unite’s regional industrial organiser, believes the majority of restaurant owners operate policies that are fundamentally unfair. “Our biggest concern is that there are so many opportunities for employers to pull a fast one on waiters and customers and yet still argue, rightly, that what they are doing is legal,” he said. “It’s got to stop.”

source: www.independent.co.uk

Protest over Kingsworth power station

“Green activists are vowing to force their way into one of Britain’s biggest power stations next month in what will be the most serious clash yet between the burgeoning climate change protest movement and the authorities. 

At least 2,000 campaigners from the 2008 Camp for Climate Action are expected to take part in the assault on Kingsnorth power station in Kent, a huge 2,000 megawatt plant that supplies electricity to 1.5 million homes in the South-east.

They are protesting at plans by the plant’s owners, E.ON, to build a new facility on the site that would be fuelled with coal – the first such plant to be built in Britain for 33 years and very likely the forerunner of a new generation of coal-fired stations.

As coal produces more CO2 than any other fossil fuel, campaigners say such a step would make a nonsense of Britain’s pledge to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. The Government is still considering E.ON’s application.

Organisers of the climate camp, which is scheduled to be held from 3 to 11 August at a site near Kingsnorth on the Hoo Peninsula, are being open, both on their website and in conversation, about their intention to force their way into the current generating station (also coal-fired) and stop it operating – for good – on the camp’s “day of mass action” on 9 August.”

source: www.independent.co.uk

The elite are planning for climate change

Excerpts from the Telegraph about what the elite are thinking about climate change….

 

“Lord Stern and Lord Giddens frightened the wits out of a Goldman Sachs audience I attended this week on the risks of a global water, food, and energy crisis.

Nicholas Stern — the author of the Government’s Stern Report on the economic effects of climate change, and former chief economist at the World Bank — said we have a one in two chance of destroying civilization within the life-span of people already born, unless drastic action is taken to slow CO2 emissions.

“If we let go, if we carry on with business as usual, there is a 50pc chance that global temperatures will be 5 degrees centigrade higher by the end of century than it was in pre-industrial times. The last time that happened, the world was a swamp and there were alligators up to the North Pole,” he said.

“We have had a rise of 0.8 degrees so far, and already South West Africa and parts of Spain are drying out.”

“We can draw the risk down to 3pc if we cut emissions by 50pc by 2050. That means will have to cut from 6 tonnes of carbon per capita to 2 tonnes. This insurance policy would amount to a one-off cost 1.5pc to 2pc of world GDP”.

(At the moment, use per capita is roughly 20 tonnes in the US, 12 in Europe, and 5 in China. Goldman’s Abby Cohen, who hosted the panel, said Russia uses 8 times as much energy as the US or Europe to produce an equivalent amount of GDP, while China uses four times as much.)

Lord Stern said this would entail an 80pc cut in emissions for the rich world. “Gordon Brown has already declared for 80pc, and both McCain and Obama in the US are near that figure.” He said it was politically ‘doable’.

Anthony Giddens — a Professor at the London School of Economics, and Tony Blair’s “Third Way” guru — said the leading nations would have to relearn the forgotten art of long-term planning. “Leaving this to the market is not a possible solution. There is no technology even close to solving this crisis. All it can do is to nibble away”. ie, mass rationing of energy.

Lord Giddens said there are three main schools of thought. The deniers (he singled out former Chancellor Nigel Lawson, author of `An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming’), the mainstream consensus around the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that views the world as a fragile creature, and those that fear the IPCC is far too optimistic (they see the planet as an angry beast that lashes out when prodded).

Lord Giddens is — I suspect — in group three. “This could be even more dangerous than we think. We know there are threshold effects. Dramatic climate change can happen in less than ten years,” he said.

 

Such are the debates are going on inside the elite banks in the City. There was very little dissent. Not a single member of the high-powered audience questioned the Stern assumptions.

The chit-chat was purely about the best instruments for cutting CO2 emissions. (Lots of disagreement on carbon trading).

I make no judgment on these views (though I confess to having read Fred Pearce’s “Last Generation”, twice, and found it quite arresting).

 

Posted by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on 05 Jun 2008 at 16:35

Help stop the UK’s first biofuel power plant

On Wednesday June 4th at 7pm Newham LBC has their final consultation.

If you are a member of an environmental group or a local person living in
Newham and would like to give evidence at this meeting then please submit your
concerns and make a specific request to present evidence at the consultation meeting on the 4th.

There are two protest events run jointly by Biofuelwatch and London Food
not Fuel;

1). Saturday May 31st which includes two activities: There will be a
stall outside Sainsbury’s on Myrtle Road, East Ham from 10:30 to 6:30.
We could do with help manning the stall, explaining and handing out
flyers and getting signatures for a petition. This will be followed by
a banner protest from 3:00 to 5:00pm at Newham Town Hall, East Ham on the
Barking Road around the corner from Sainsburys.

2). Wednesday 4th June.:  The second event will be timed to coincide
with councillors attending the final consultation meeting at Newham  Town
Hall on June 4th.  The meeting is at 7:00pm so we will be protesting from
6:30pm, Newham Town Hall, High Street South entrance, East Ham.

Please help us STOP the UK’s first biofuel power plant!

CONTACTS FOR BECKTON PROTEST

Biofuelwatch: info@biofuelwatch.org.uk

House prices fell 2.5% in May

The lender, Nationwide, announced today that house prices in the country fell 2.5% in May alone - shocking analysts. This is the seventh month in a row that prices have declined. Houses have lost 4.4% of their value, compared to a year ago.

Nationwide tried to reassure people that prices are still 10% higher than they were in May 2005. They would, wouldn’t they? Let’s remember that as late as December last year, Nationwide were forecasting no drop in 2008. They then moved that to a 4% drop. Now they are increasing that, though insisting that it will remain in single figures.

We can ignore that and prepare for a much faster drop. The housing minister, Caroline Flint, inadvertently told us all that “at best” prices would drop by 5 to 10%. She added that they couldn’t know just how bad it would get. Given that US prices fell 25% in one year in California, we had better get prepared for a housing crash here too.

Given that prices are way way beyond all measures of affordability, it would not surprise me if by the next election, prices were not 25% down.

For London, it is possible that the drop could be worse, since the one-trick pony economy of relying on the City of London and Canary Wharf is about to be slammed.

For many a Tower Hamlets citizen, this could be a financial nightmare. Many had thought this was a ticket to financial freedom and security in old age. Or in other words, a personal pension better than the real thing.

How many people rented out their flats in Aldgate and Whitechapel and used that to pay the mortgage for larger houses in Barking and Dagenham?

How many face the prospect of negative equity?

What happens when City jobs go (as they do in all recessions) and demand for E1/E2 houses collapses?

New Labour led the charge into this so-called golden age. They (with no challenge from the Conservatives) encouraged people to pile on the credit without rhyme nor reason. Gordon Brown told us he got rid of boom and bust.

Well, the housing bust has begun. This is not something for the middle classes only. Like their equivalent in the US, many thousands of people on low incomes took out mortgages of £150,000 to £250,000. The lenders were falling over themselves to lend. Unlike today.

While the banks are saved, how many poor people will be financially ruined over the next few years?

Farid Bakht

EU leaders are in denial about biofuels

EGP Press Release, 21^st May 2008                                                                                                                                                          

 

GOVERNMENTS IN EU AND AMERICAS SHOULD IMPLEMENT REAL SOLUTIONS TO FOOD CRISIS

 

Following the “disappointing” conclusion of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean summit in Lima, Peru at the weekend, the Spokespersons of the European Green Party have called on the governments of both regions to show much more commitment than they have done up now in implementing sustainable and effective solutions to the world’s key challenges of poverty, climate change, the growing demand for energy, the food crisis and peace and security.

 

EGP Co-Spokesperson Philippe Lamberts said: “The relationship between the EU and the Latin America and Caribbean region is of increasing importance, both in terms of economics and trade, energy and food production , human rights and peace and security issues.

We in the EGP were able to discuss many of these challenges and how to find sustainable solutions to them with our fellow Greens from the Americas during the recent Global Greens Congress in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Unfortunately, the EU-Latin America and Caribbean summit last weekend has clearly shown that too many of the leaders in the EU and in the Americas are determined to pursue policies which risk worsening the food crisis and the environmental degradation of crucial ecosystems like the Amazon. The declaration of “deep concern” about the global food crisis and the uncertainty, misery and unrest which it is causing, was then immediately shown to be virtually meaningless by leaders like President Lula of Brazil and Spain’s President Zapatero insisting that they are not even prepared to consider that the ill-thought out and too rapid expansion of the agrofuels sector may be one of the factors causing or at least aggravating the explosion in food prices. This is despite the fact that even the EU’s  own environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, recently admitted that there is growing evidence of the link between agrofuels and the threat of increased starvation and malnutrition.”

 

EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek continued: “We were saddened to hear of the resignation last week of Brazil’s Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, because of unremitting opposition from within President Lula’s government and big business to her environmentally ambitious programme, and in particular her attempts to protect the Amazon region from potentially disastrous and irreparable damage caused by overfelling. This is further evidence of the duty we all have to put pressure on EU leaders to do much more to encourage countries like Brazil to pursue a truly balanced and sustainable economy. And that they must do that with a sense of real urgency as time is running out to protect areas like the Amazon which are vital, not only for Brazil and the Americas, but for the world as a whole. We Greens again urge leaders in the EU and elsewhere to stop investing in ineffective, dangerous and inefficient technologies like nuclear power and agrofuels.

 

Regarding the issue of the conflict in Colombia, we deeply regret that the EU leaders seemingly did not take a firm stance against President Uribe’s apparent stubborn determination to attempt to find a purely military solution to the 40 year old conflict with the FARC Guerrilla. We share the view of the relatives of former Colombian Green Party Senator Ingrid Betancourt and the other hostages held by FARC: that President Uribe must, in no circumstances, attempt an armed rescue of those hostages as this would almost certainly end in terrible carnage. A politically negotiated end to the conflict is the only way to bring peace and security to the long–suffering people of Colombia. In the meantime, we reiterate our call for FARC to unconditionally and immediately release Ingrid Betancourt and all other hostages.”

Energy bills set to soar

The average energy bill for a British household could rise by as much as 46pc this year, according to uSwitch.

If oil and wholesale gas prices continue to soar, energy bills could hit £1,327 by the end of 2008, an unprecedented increase in one year.

Hard Work, Hidden lives”

Responding to the report ‘Hard Work, Hidden Lives’, released today by the TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employment, Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London, said:

“The finding that more than two million people in Britain are forced to endure ‘intolerably poor working lives’, while being subjected to daily exploitation and abuse from employers, is appalling. Employment practices which take advantage of vulnerable workers have been found to be commonplace, despite a raft of regulations to protect people from mistreatment.

“It comes as no surprise that people in certain industries suffer disproportionately, with those in hotel and catering, hairdressing and beauty and construction and security being most at risk. People in these industries are frequently paid below minimum income for the hours they work, as they are often employed on a casual basis and are less likely to be in a trade union.

“There is a clear need for greater inspection to ensure that workers are being given reasonable paid holiday, decent wages and that their work allows them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. When unscrupulous employers provide poorer work conditions they can undercut responsible employers and this leads to lower standards across industry sectors. This must not go on.

“The legal framework is failing to protect some of those most at risk of exploitation, including young people, foreign workers and agency workers who have no other prospects for employment. Anti-poverty targets will be undermined unless the Government gets to grips with this widespread problem.”

To view a summary or download the TUC report ‘Hard Work, Hidden Lives’, go to www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk

source: green party web site

Farid Bakht 

Carbon dioxide reaches a record high

Scientists in Hawaii have calculated that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high. They say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm). 

Carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected.

Scientists say the shift could indicate that the Earth is losing its natural ability to soak up billions of tons of carbon each year.

Martin Parry, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s working group on impacts, said: “Despite all the talk, the situation is getting worse. Levels of greenhouse gases continue to rise in the atmosphere and the rate of that rise is accelerating. We are already seeing the impacts of climate change and the scale of those impacts will also accelerate, until we decide to do something about it”.

source: www.guardian.co.uk

Farid Bakht

Ken explains himself

In today’s comment section in the guardian, Ken Livingstone analyses his defeat. He also calls for a progressive alliance, implying Labour, the Greens and ‘others’ join together. Of the others he mentions the Lib-Dems, mocking their trouncing in London.

Unfortunately for Ken, he has missed something. He quotes the Financial Times as saying that big business favoured him - this is precisely what we mentioned yesterday (where the small business federation poll showed the same result).

Instead of seeing a thumbs up from the likes of Goldman Sachs as an indictment, Ken sees that as a positive. Would it not have been better if he had cemented the support of the small businesses, instead?

Let us be fair and say he is showing dignity and character in his defeat.

Perhaps we have to wait a little longer for him to admit that his return to New Labour was his second mistake - the first being the championing of the corporate fest - otherwise known as the olympic games. Why oh why is he showing any loyalty to Gordon Brown & co, when they plainly detested him?

Nevertheless, he was the best leading politician in London and we should remember him for his successes in the eighties and his comeback in 2000 as an independent.

He however is not going to retire, as the media expect.

At only 62, he has a decade and a half to go. The spin-media circus is savegely ageist - remember Ming-Cambwell? In Asia, they would welcome more experienced leaders, able to look back to living history.

If Ken is serious about a progressive alliance, then he has to jettison New Labour - it’s no point looking for True Labour, since decent leaders have been filtered out. Hilary Benn is a shadow of father Tony.

Instead, Ken would be better returning as an Independent and aiding smaller parties and movements in their quest for a more just economy and society. He has far more to offer in politics than bendy buses and charges for congestion.

With immigration, nationalism and a collapse in the ’service economy’ becoming the big issues, he can help focus the debate….. meanwhile the Green movement can articulate a vision of solving those issues within a path to an economy that does something to avert climate change…..

Farid Bakht