A row over tipping has broken out after complaints from waiters at a chain of steakhouses. Some 539 people have signed a petition calling for Miller & Carter to change a controversial tipping policy which is alleged to be in place at branches including Cardiff Bay, Cardiff city centre and Killay in Swansea.

Since late August, waiters in those three restaurants have allegedly been paying out of their tips to match 1.5% of the gross sales figure from their tables. It is alleged that amount comes out of their tips and goes to kitchen, bar and management staff, though not general managers. Waiters at some other branches have been 'tipping out' as much as 2% of the gross table sales figure, Unite the Union alleges.

One whistleblower at a Cardiff branch said waiters fear going into 'tip debt' if they do not make enough tips to cover the percentage of gross sales. He described staff in tears and some quitting their jobs, adding: "It is reaching a point where it is not possible to carry on. We are willing to share our tips with other team members but not in this way."

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The whistleblower believes simply sharing tips would be fairer than having to match a gross sales percentage. WalesOnline has seen a manager's message to staff at Killay's Miller & Carter, which reads: "In the unlikely event that a server's gratuities do not cover their tip-out then an IOU will be in place until the following week — this will continue until the full tip amount has been collected."

If a waiter gets into 'tip debt', the amount owed would be taken from their tips across future shifts, but Miller & Carter insists it would never come out of their wages. The chain says the team in each of its branches "democratically decides on its own tip distribution policy" through a vote. But the Cardiff whistleblower claimed that all the options for their branch's vote in August included a percentage of gross table sales. He said back-of-house staff outnumbered the front-of-house team, which allegedly led to the highest sales percentage among the options, 1.5%, being selected. To get more stories like this straight to your inbox, subscribe to our daily newsletter here.

Miller & Carter confirmed some of its restaurants in Wales would be "re-running the voting process" following complaints. The chain also addressed concerns voiced by Welsh politicians following a Unite social media post on Thursday, which stated: "A week ago, 80% of workers at Miller & Carter in both Cardiff restaurants sent a collective grievance to the CEO of [the chain's owner] Mitchells & Butlers about an unfair tipping policy. Within days, their hours were cut by up to 60%."

In response Welsh Government economy minister Vaughan Gething had offered his support to the staff, while Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens urged the business to "comply with their responsibilities". But Miller & Carter denies any link between the grievance and its allocation of hours. Its spokesman said: “On occasion team members are asked to temporarily reduce or increase their hours, generally in anticipation of changes in trading conditions. Wherever possible team members are offered hours in other roles and this is the case for the businesses in Wales."

In the Unite petition, titled "Give us back our tips", organiser Bryan Simpson wrote: "Previously, waiters had to 'tip-out' to the kitchen and bar around 20-25% of their tips. Now they have to find [up to] 2% of *gross sales* which is a huge increase and means that some are already going into tip debt.... They cannot possibly sustain the levels of tips they are expected to collect to subsidise the poor wages of the kitchen and bar team."

Around 80% of the Hayes and Cardiff Bay front-of-house teams are alleged to have put their names to a grievance. The whistleblower said: "If we don't reach an agreement we probably will strike... The policy is very stressful because every time someone makes an order, you are thinking: 'How much is that going to cost me?' Before we did everything to upsell, but with this policy we are scared."

We have seen one Cardiff worker's contract which says their number of weekly hours "cannot be guaranteed" although "reasonable notice" should be given if their expected amount is to be changed. He alleged that recently some staff have learned of rota changes a few hours ahead of their shift. He claimed the workforce has been stretched due to staff covering fewer hours, adding: "It feels like one person is having to work for multiple people at the moment."

The Unite petition calls on Mitchells & Butlers CEO Phil Urban to implement a "genuinely democratic Fair Tips Committee to be elected at every restaurant without management interference". Mitchells & Butlers announced an operating profit of £99million in its 2023 half-year results.

A Miller & Carter spokesman said: “There has been no change to the approach taken in deciding the distribution of tips at Miller & Carter. To suggest so would be fundamentally untrue. There are currently 124 Miller & Carter venues across the UK. Each team in each individual site democratically decides on its own tip distribution policy.

“Some teams in venues may adopt similar options, but those options are down to each team across all businesses who take a vote once a year, every year. The final decision on voting options is down to individual teams and to date, there are more than 70 variations across Miller & Carter of the way teams distribute tips.

“General managers are not involved in the vote and do not receive the benefits of tips. All other members of staff are encouraged to participate in the annual process of how times will be allocated amongst the team to ensure fairness for all. Members of staff will never be asked to contribute towards the tipping procedure from their own wages. Although the process has been run fairly, we can confirm that the businesses in Wales will be re-running the voting process on tips allocation following feedback."

Mr Gething posted on social media: "My office is in touch with Unite Wales about this, and any constituents here in Cardiff South and Penarth who are affected can of course contact mine and Stephen Doughty MP's offices for assistance as usual." And Ms Stevens wrote: "Anyone affected who lives in Cardiff Central is more than welcome to contact me and I will work with Unite to make sure that Miller & Carter understand and comply with their responsibilities and understand the damage that not doing so would cause to their reputation."