East London charity Toynbee Hall’s Transact team recently co-launched with us, a new report called ‘Waiting for Change’ which examines restaurant workers and the informal economy in Brick Lane’s curry mile.
The research reveals a picture of staff in east London’s Brick Lane restaurants trapped in poverty with long working hours for cash in hand pay as low as £3 an hour. Poor English and a lack of access to education is making it difficult for them to move on to better paid formal employment.
Over three-quarters of the Brick Lane restaurant workers we interviewed in October and November 2008 were paid significantly below the minimum wage, and nearly all were paid in cash. Most had no contract, paid no tax and worked between 50 and 65 hours a week – a six day working week was the norm.
“I work split shifts – six days a week – about ten hours a day and I get £210 a week in cash,”
Waiter B.
The majority of interviewees wanted to move on to better-paid work but a gruelling split shift working pattern made it virtually impossible for them to gain the English language and other skills they needed. Almost three quarters said poor English prevented them achieving their aspirations, whilst just over half blamed a lack of education and qualifications.
“People work here because we don’t know English – there is no social life,”
Waiter Q.
We discussed the findings and recommendations on 27th February with local community groups, Tower Hamlets Council, Learning and Skills Council, East London Business Place , Bangladesh-British Chamber of Commerce, Trade Unions, and the national Bangladesh Caterers Association. Unfortunately the Bangla Town Restaurant Association didn’t turn up, maybe reflecting the challenges that could be faced in working with the restaurant owners to formalise their business practices.
The positive discussion focussed primarily on the recommendations from the report and a practical way forward, including establishing a partnership group of Bangladeshi community and business organisations and the voluntary and public sector agencies to advise on interventions and further research; developing the skills of restaurant workers (people seemed keen on developing a curry academy); developing English language skills, delivered at times and places convenient to staff; and conducting an audit of the informal economy in Tower Hamlets. We all agreed that the informal economy will be wide spread across a variety of business sectors.
The Community Links informal economy consultancy service could help provide the baseline data and turn the findings into strategy and practical action.
We look forward to working with Toynbee Hall over the coming months including at the Banglatown Mela in Brick Lane on 10th May when, as a next step, we will be distributing thousands of leaflets to inform local workers of their employment rights and where to seek support.
Dowload the full report and, if you live or work around Brick Lane or in Tower Hamlets and you want to get involved, contact Jamie Elliot ( Jamie.Elliott@toynbeehall.org.uk ) at Transact.
