Ms Julia Marciniak:

We thank the committee for inviting our members to give evidence today. We at Unite firmly believe that workers’ experiences need to be listened to, respected and acted on appropriately in order to move towards fair and decent employment practices in this industry, as in all others.

Unite's hospitality and tourism branch had ongoing concerns about the sector prior to the pandemic. Those concerns are based on the experiences of our members and other workers in the sector. The issues include low wages, precarious working hours, a lack of decency and respect, minimal enforcement of workplace rights and inequality. On the basis of those concerns, we embarked on two pieces of research. The first examined the extent of employment in the sector and the demographics within it, focusing on gender, age and nationality. The second is a survey entitled Hidden Truths - the Reality of Work in Ireland’s Hospitality and Tourism Sector, published in July 2021, the findings of which are revealing of a sector where many of the employment practices are, in general, not good for workers. For example, 55.6% reported being paid below the living wage and 29.6 % of employees in supervisor or managerial roles reported being paid below the living wage. Some 65% said they had no work-life balance and experienced unsocial working hours as a constant. Some 70% reported witnessing or being bullied at work and only 31% of the survey respondents believed that migrant workers were treated equally in the workplace.

We believe that those issues, among others, have a vital and often negative impact on the recruitment and retention of staff in the sector. Employers and their representative bodies need to reflect on their own behaviour and words. It is unhelpful and insulting to see comments recently calling for the PUP to be cut off in order to force people back to the workplace weeks before the reopening of businesses. Let us all remember that workers did not cause the Covid-19 pandemic or the lockdown. Workers in this sector have the same needs as everyone else. They have to eat and pay their bills. Cutting their source of income puts them at risk of poverty and eviction, among many other negative outcomes.

Unite believes, from our discussions and surveys with workers, that there is an appalling level of disrespect towards workers in this sector and it is widespread. One young worker recently described online receiving a bucket of coins as his wages. That is only one example of the type of humiliation many workers face on a regular basis. The view that staff are unskilled, cheap, temporary and easily replaceable is a major factor in how they are treated.

Unite believes that there needs to be a vast improvement in the way workers are treated by employers and management across the hospitality and tourism sector. This begins with decent pay and contracts and an end to precarious employment, followed by a robust and enforceable anti-bullying legislation.