Manager is sacked over tips policy

The Unite general union is trying to persuade Gondola Holdings, the parent company of PizzaExpress, to reinstate an employee who was sacked after almost 20 years’ service, a dismissal the union alleges was made because of his trade union activity.

Nabil Guirguis, a manager at a branch of Pizza Express, was dismissed after joining a Unite demonstration last September which was urging restaurant customers to check what happened to the tips they left. The union alleges that Guirguis was sacked for talking to the media about the company practice of deducting an 8% “administrative charge” from tips left on credit cards.

So far the company has said its actions in sacking the manager — and its tips policy — are “fully justified”. But the union says that Guirguis’s actions were trade union activity, for which he should not be dismissed. It has offered to go to conciliation service Acas to resolve the matter.

Meanwhile the union is calling weekly pickets of different branches of Pizza Express asking customers to sign their petition and to ask about the tips policy while in the restaurant.