Yesterday was Anzac Day. While the returned service men and women (and many members of the general public) commemorated the day with a few quiet beers, some of the people serving them were not getting anything extra for working the public holiday. This is a fact of life in the post-WorkChoices world.
Some restaurants add a public holiday surcharge onto your bill. Some of these restaurants are not paying anything extra to their staff for working that public holiday. I’d be interested to find out why - does the electricity and gas cost more on a public holiday? Do their ingredients cost more? My guess (and it is only a guess at this stage) is that it is profiteering - they bung on the surcharge because they can, because we as a restaurant-going public are used to the idea that the people cooking and serving our food are being paid more so we pay the premium.
What do we do about it? I am not sure that we should name and shame restaurants that do this - although it is tempting. At a minimum I think we are entitled to ask the staff if they are getting the benefit of the surcharge - what do you think?
I’ve often wondered what this surcharge is actually for. I thought it was because it was more expensive to pay your staff on holidays.
The Daily Telegraph wrote an article on this very subject: Anzac Day surcharge anger, 26 April 2007.
M
Thanks Matt,
seems like it is just a ripoff. The Daily Telegraph has a followup story on the Mean Fiddler here.
And you would never guess - they are blaming the consultants
Cheers, Andrew