Several voices have been raised over the past few days, in particular those of the Association des restaurateurs du Québec (ARQ) and the Director General of the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality of Quebec (ITHQ), to demand the sharing of tips between waiters and cooks, in particular to alleviate the problem of recruiting positions in the kitchen. However, this debate is not new; in 2018, employers in the restaurant sector were already calling for a revision of the Labor Standards Act (LNT) to give bosses the power to share tips. The context of labor shortages was also mentioned at the time. In our opinion, this proposal only dumbs down the working conditions of workers in the entire restaurant sector.
Our organizations plead for the profession of cook and cook to be more valued and more recognized and this requires better working conditions, but not to the detriment of employees who receive tips! There is no magic formula, to attract and keep staff, you need recognition, better conditions and obviously better salaries. Restaurant owners know very well that it is by putting an end to the starvation wages of kitchen employees that they and they will take back the apron. Remember that these salaries have increased by only about 10% over the past two years, a sign of the need to give a boost to fill the brigades.
Sharing tips also risks shifting the recruitment problem in the kitchen to waitresses and waiters. Remember that the minimum wage rate for workers receiving tips is $11.40 per hour, lower than the regular minimum wage of $14.25. It is therefore easy to understand that a less busy day or even a low-cost menu does not necessarily translate into substantial tips and therefore into big pay. It is wrong to believe that all waiters and waitresses in Quebec work in large restaurants with huge bills. Many of them are still struggling to make ends meet!
Tips have always been part of the total remuneration of waiters and waitresses. Quebec is also the only province where the minimum wage reserved for them is lower than that of the rest of the population. And if part of the tip may have escaped the tax authorities in the past, this question has been settled for twenty-five years now.
And we would like today, to compensate for the inadequate salaries of the kitchen staff, to shell the incomes of the waiters and waitresses instead of a remuneration which is incumbent… on the employer himself?
It should be remembered that the law in no way prevents the sharing of tips left in the dining room. In many restaurant workplaces, sharing tips with kitchen staff has now become the norm.
However, the law prohibits an employer from getting involved. Because if employees who receive tips agree to share their tips with their colleagues in the dining room and kitchen, it is because the agreements are decided by the workers themselves, without the owner of the establishment imposing its rules and even less to dip into the fund.
Daniel Boyer
President of the Quebec Federation of Labor (FTQ)
Caroline Senneville
President of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN)
Colin Lefebvre-Bouchard
President of Down the Ladder