TGI FRIDAY’S rescue deal has left a bad taste — for hundreds of restaurant workers who will miss out on redundancy pay and hard-earned tips.
A total of 1,012 jobs have gone after administrators said the sale to Breal Capital and Calveton would cause 35 eateries to close.
Impacted staff were also told the firm would not be responsible for redundancy pay, accrued holiday or tips.
The burden will instead go to the taxpayer, via the Insolvency Service.
The majority were on zero hours contracts.
One employee said anonymously: “I did 35 hours last week and earnt tips because I was telling customers we were fine and going to be saved.
“Now I’m not getting paid for any of it.”
The turmoil and anger has come just days before the Government is to unveil its Employment Rights Bill on Thursday, which will reform workers’ rights.
Labour is also planning to ban “exploitative” zero hours contracts — although the details of this will still be consulted on.
Under current law a zero hours worker who has not been with a firm for more than two years cannot claim redundancy pay.
Staff should be able to claim 100 per cent of tips earned, under a law passed last week.
But restructuring sources said that it would be up to workers applying to The Insolvency Service — with their claims and evidence of tips earned — suggesting that it will be difficult to recoup the cash.
The union Unite said last night: “The way in which workers have been treated across TGI Fridays is a national disgrace.
“Our members are being told that they may not even be paid wages for work done.”
The deal by the firm that owns Byron Burger, will keep open 51 locations across the UK and save more than 2,000 jobs.
LUXURY online fashion site Yoox Net-A-Porter has been offloaded to a German rival.
The sale by Swiss firm Richemont, the owner of Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery, to Mytheresa comes after years of heavy losses.
Net-a-Porter, set up by Dame Natalie Massenet, was a jewel in the British fashion scene before an ill-fated merger with Italian rival Yoox.
Luxury online groups boomed in lockdowns but have been undone by the market’s slowdown.
Farfetch almost went bust last December while Matches Fahion folded in March.
WORRIES around the future of Thames Water threaten to dampen the big splash Labour hopes to make at its investment summit next Monday.
Global investors, tech tycoons and City bigwigs including Aviva boss Amanda Blanc; Octopus Energy founder Greg Jackson and Google’s Eric Schmidt will be at the event at London’s Guildhall, held two weeks before the Chancellor delivers her growth-focused Budget.
Thames Water is scrambling to raise cash and refinance debt from investors, who require the regulator to sign off their plan to hike customer bills.
Behind the scenes investors are lobbying the Government to warn of a “domino effect” if water companies are deemed uninvestable by the pension funds and infrastructure investors the Chancellor is looking to win over.
A spokesperson for the Global Infrastructure Investor Association said: “It’s essential to ensure this country is an attractive investment destination.”
PUB group Amber Taverns, which has 178 sites across England, Scotland and Wales, has been sold to a private equity firm.
Epiris already owns Big Table Group, which includes Cafe Rouge and Las Iguanas restaurant chains.
THERE is more change at the top of John Lewis just three weeks after Tesco veteran Jason Tarry arrived as chairman.
The department store to grocery chain yesterday revealed chief executive Nish Kankiwala will be stepping down by March next year.
Mr Kankiwala, former boss of Hovis, was brought in on a two-year contract to boost the boardroom’s retail experience when Dame Sharon White, former Ofcom regulator, had the top job at John Lewis.
By contrast Mr Tarry spent 33 years working at Tesco, including the last six as boss of Britain’s biggest retailer.
John Lewis said that the “role of chief executive will not be directly replaced and Jason will chair the executive team as well as the partnership board”.
HOUSE prices rose for the third month in a row in September — going up by 0.3 per cent.
Average property prices cost 4.7 per cent more than a year ago after rising to £293,399, according to Halifax stats.
It is £108 shy of the £293,507 record set in June 2022, when the market was boosted by a post-pandemic surge and before the mini-budget provoked mortgage mayhem.
Property experts said hopes of interest rate cuts are fuelling the market revival.
LONDON-listed mining giant Rio Tinto is exploring a trans-Atlantic takeover of a New York-listed lithium miner.
The approach for Arcadium Lithium marks a welcome step-change from British miners being snapped up by their overseas rivals.
Lithium, a silvery white metal, is of increasing importance in the global push for greener energy, as it is needed in electric vehicles and battery storage.
Arcadium Lithium, which has mining operations in Argentina, China, Canada and Australia, counts car giants Telsa, BMW and Toyota as clients.
Shares in Arcadium Lithium bounced by a third yesterday.
It valued the company at £3.3billion — a marked improvement for a company which had slumped by 60 per cent since the start of the year amid weakening demand in China.
Some of its investors are viewing Rio Tinto’s approach as opportunistic and have signalled they will reject a lowball bid.
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