The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-08

a less popular part of the restaurant he would not.
 T have taken es (ssO) a week in tips with a good position" he said, "and in the same restaurant, when I had poor position, l got only 30 shillings (s7So).
 Mir Cam objects to tipping because it is degrading to the waiter and because it places the onus of providing the pay for the service on the public instead of on the employer.
 He gave me some astonishing figures as to wages. In some cases the waiter gets no wages at all in London. In others it is as low as half dollar a week. Gen orally the wages range from about q. 9 to sS.I5 week and board. He complains that too often the conditions under which the staffs nave to work and the food they get as horrible They are fed badly aud do not get the same food as' that served 10 customers. Extra walters dur ing the war were expected to work for about half a dollar a night. Now they get S1.25 to $I50 They are supposed to get extra from tips. but that source of income has now been stopped. The extra waiter was formerly allowed to tap
 those he had served. Usually he would go to the diners just before the end of the dinner and announce that he was going IL generally meant a tip, usually averaging about 10 cents. That meant just about dollar as teach waiter usually serves eight guests. Today tap ping is not allowed. Instead g. collec- ton is taken from the staff. Though the average tip is the same, MT. Cam says that the unlucky walters only receive from a5 to q cents each.
 Who gets the rest? '"The superintend- ent," declares MT. Cam. He often pockets s20 to s25. That is why the union today is demanding half a guinea about s25o for these extra turns"
 There is still another objection to tip- ping in its latest form. This Is known as the Tronc system. and it has been intro duced into almost all the big establish ments in London.
 'The tronc system MT. Cam ex- plainad, means that all the tips are pooled. The management shares them out at the end of the week among the staff Under this system I have re- ceived t2la shillings (about $S) in wages and regularly every week about $7.50 from ups. total wage of $105o. l always get the same. The manage ment in some cases were able to pay the wages of the rest of the staff from the tips. The wait CTS never see the opening of the box con- taining the tips and the management will never allow them to see it. This trono system has been brought to London by alien managers from the continent
 Tips it seems. have gone down with the increase in the cost of living. Today, MT, Cam assured me, the tips in the most popular restaurants like the Hol- born or Frascati's range from to % cents. The maximum is quite unusual. Tn the English provinces of course the tips are less than in London.
 "This union was only started eleven months ago" MT. Cam added. but all ready we have 17e0o members and we have improved conditions. Waitesses to- day get under s9 for a. 4S-hour week. Be- fore we started they got from $2-75. to ST5.
 Now we are fighting the clubs where there are no tips. The wages paid are very low-from $3.75 to $S.75 for walters who sweep out Now, the national lib- eral club has raised the pay of their