Pretending to reward employees after workers threatened to strike | Pret a Manger

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Pret a Manger backed away from plans to cut employee bonuses in a partial turnaround on proposed pay cuts after workers threatened to strike.

However, the cafe chain did not reverse a decision to stop paying for breaks, so that a worker on an eight-hour shift, including a legally required half-hour break, sees a pay cut of just over 6%. Shift against pre-pandemic levels.

Premature workers, the vast majority of whom receive basic salaries from the statutory minimum of £8.91 an hour, threatened to disrupt tools this week after being told a temporary cut in paid rest periods would become permanent.

The service bonus, linked to performance judged by a mystery shopper, was abandoned last summer and reintroduced in April this year at 50 pence an hour, down from £1 before the pandemic. Workers were told last week that the change would also be permanent.

With the city centers it serves emptied of workers during the pandemic, Brett has been under severe financial pressure. The company gave up its dividend payments to shareholders and in April warned of “material doubts” about whether it could continue as a going concern. Pay cuts were part of a cost-saving program.

But on Thursday, after planned pay changes sparked outrage on social media, chief Pret Pano Christou told staff that the mystery shopper’s bonus was restored to £1 an hour after “staff feedback” was taken into account.

“The business is still recovering but it is important that we continue to invest in and support our teams in any way we can. I have spent over 20 years working for Pret and a significant amount of time working in our stores, so I know how important it is to rewarding the Mystery Shopper to everyone and it is something that sets Pret Away from the competition,” he said in an email to workers.

He added, “…Unfortunately, it took longer than we had hoped to get sales back to where they were before the pandemic, which is why we’ve had to make some tough decisions about how to reward our hard-working teams.”

One of the employees involved in the strike planned for next month said the new deal was a “good improvement” but they were still considering whether to carry on with their work as paid breaks had not been restored.

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Another worker said they were being moved to consider action because the pay got worse as work became more difficult, in part due to a subscription service introduced a year ago that enabled members to get up to five cups of coffee a day for £1 a month . 20 fee.

“With a coffee subscription we have more work. More effort. More stress. People never stop going for free coffee, but our conditions as employees will come back instead…

“Now there is no difference to work between Pret a Manger and [another coffee shop]. I love my job but we want our conditions to improve or at least be as they were before.”

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