date: 30 July 2008

embargo: 00.01hrs Thursday 31 July 2008

TUC welcomes ruling for waiting staff to keep their tips

Responding to the Department for Business (BERR) announcement today (Thursday) that restaurants will no longer be able to use tips to top staff pay up to the minimum wage, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'The Government is right to make sure that workers can keep their tips and that the responsibility to pay the minimum wage rests squarely with employers.

'Most ordinary people think the current loophole in the law is unfair because it allows unscrupulous employers to cheat workers out of the tips that are meant for them.

'This is a welcome example of the Government responding to the concerns of hard-pressed vulnerable workers.''

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Press release (300 words) issued 31 Jul 2008