Simply put no it is not. Grouting involves pushing the grout into the joint without taking care to avoid getting it on the face of the tile.
Pointing brick slips requires you to not get the mortar on the face of the brick by carefully piping it into the joint and then tooling the joint. Brick slip pointing is a very skilled job and a whole installation can be ruined by poor pointing workmanship.
If you hear your labourer saying they will ‘grout’ the brick slip joint just make sure they understand grouting glazed wall tiles is very different to pointing brickwork as the mortar cannot be wiped off if smeared on the surface.