Stop Las Iguanas forcing their staff to "Pay to Work"

In this time of austerity, getting a job is tough enough as it is. For a chain like Las Iguanas, forcing their staff to pay to work - and profiting from it - is grossly unfair and entirely unnecessary. We have to stop it.

I've eaten at Las Iguanas in Brighton countless times and it's disgusted me to know that money I left to the waiters and waitresses has been taken by the company. Simply put, this ridiculous policy is forcing staff to Pay to Work at Las Iguanas.

If enough of us stand up to these disgusting practices, boycott Las Iguanas - and tell our friends to do likewise - they will have to change their ways. We will be handing this petition to Las Iguanas executives along with stories from their staff, so please sign this vital petition today.

This is the way it works: Las Iguanas require staff to pay back 3% of their total sales for the night (5.5% in London) - in cash - to the management at the end of each shift. The money is meant to be paid by waiters from their pot of tips but, because it bears no relation to how much a waiter actually takes in tips, it can wipe out his or her entire income from gratuities in a busy night.

Here's what one ex-staff member tweeted about the policy yesterday:
https://s.bsd.net/38degrees/main/page/-/CBY/iguanas-tweet.jpg

If a waiter processes an entirely normal £1,000 in a night then they will be required to pay the managers £30; staff have suggested this occurs even if they received no tips at all. One employee has said: “Over five shifts in a week is a substantial loss of my tips. Sometimes it works out as if I am paying to work, as for a five-hour shift I am paid £32.50 before tax.”

The company claim this policy is to fund staff development and reward schemes for all staff, though Las Iguanas can take £34,000 a week from their staff using this little earner.

Source: The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/23/restaurant-tipping-policy-forces-waiters-to-pay-to-work, [accessed 24.08.15]