Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The reality for workers in the hospitality sector is that more than 50% of the 130,000 people working in accommodation and food services earn less than €400 per week. In addition, 17% of all other employees in the sector earn only the national minimum hourly wage and 41% of employees in the sector work part-time. While the average wage is €697.52, in the hospitality sector it is €324.86. Recent research by TASC, the Think-tank for Action on Social Change, describes the sector as characterised by what are effectively zero-hour contracts. The Mandate and SIPTU trade unions, which represent workers in the hospitality sector, and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions have all condemned the outrageous campaign of misinformation waged by employer interest groups in the hotels, restaurants and service sectors against the decency threshold, namely, the joint labour committee system. The Irish Hotels Federation and the Restaurants Association of Ireland have falsely portrayed workers in the sector as a privileged group receiving vast earnings which make businesses unsustainable and result in job losses.

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