‘Give hotel workers union rights’, says Limerick Senator

LIMERICK Senator Paul Gavan has called for trade union rights for hotel workers in Limerick.

Sinn Fein's Mr Gavan wants to see the establishment of a protocol where Limerick City and County Council and other government institutions insist that companies in receipt of taxpayers' money recognise workers rights to the fullest extent.

Speaking in the Upper House, he said: “The Sinn Féin Tips Bill continues to progress in the Dáil, but of course the issues in the hospitality sector go way beyond that.”

He said: “I want to refer to the Workplace Relations Commission Reports for the last three years, where you’ll see, in the food and drinks sector, a 48% rate of non-compliance with basic employment law in 2016, 58% in 2017, and a 67% rate of non-compliance in 2018 for the food and drinks sector. Similarly, in the hotels sector, there was found to be a non-compliance rate of 48% in 2016, 58% in 2017, and 58% in 2018.”

“In other words,” he added, “our restaurants, our hotels, the majority of workplaces inspected are not in compliance with basic employment law. They are not issuing proper contracts, not complying with the National Minimum Wage Act, the Organisation of Working Time Act, and the Payment of Wages Act.”

He described it as “shocking”, and criticised the local authority for “showering” taxpayers' money on hotels which allegedly do not recognise trade unions.

“Isn’t it time that we, as a country, decided that, when we’re going to award taxpayers' money, that we at least insist on a level of decency in this sector. We should be calling on those hotels to recognise the right of their staff to join a trade union, and to be recognised as trade union members,” he asked.

According to Siptu, just one city hotel recognises trade unions.