Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I have been a lifelong trade unionist. The first day I went to work, I joined the union. I have been a member of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, now called SIPTU - a union of which my late father was a founder member in Clonmel in 1934. I was a member of the Federation of Rural Workers and the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union, now called Unite. I was a long-time member of the union now called Fórsa. In my day, we started off with it called the Irish Local Government Officials Union. As a trade unionist, I strongly support this Bill. I will obviously be voting for it on Thursday.

I thank Senator Gavan for bringing forward this Bill and commend the Seanad on passing the Bill last week. I ask each and every Deputy in the Dáil to support and to vote in favour of the Bill on Thursday next.

The Minister's contribution was shocking. Words such as "arrogant", "intransigent" and "anti-democratic" come to mind. The use of the money message has been referred to by other Members. This is obviously a tactic to ensure that this Bill does not see the light of day. Of course, because of where we are in this Dáil cycle, the certainty is that no Government Bill will see the light of day either. The Minister's position, as set out here tonight, is anti-democratic. The Minister knows the Seanad has passed this Bill. She knows that all the main parties and Independents in the House, with the exception of Fine Gael, support this Bill. She deliberately uses the money message to stymie this Bill. If the Minister was genuine in this regard, she would allow this Bill to proceed and have it passed on Thursday. If there were areas that she was not happy with and if she wanted to ensure that workers were treated fairly in relation to tips, she could use the legislative process, particularly the committee system, to amend and improve the Bill.

The hospitality sector is a particularly difficult sector for workers. It includes precarious, temporary, part-time, casual and seasonal employment. It is very hard work that involves largely unsocial hours and is low paid. In many cases, it is minimum wage employment. I would say that a significant number, if not a majority, of the working poor are working in this area of employment.

The measures contained in this Bill are reasonable and positive and I do not believe that any good employer has anything to fear from them. A study, as has been stated, in 2017 showed that one third of workers simply did not get the tips that were intended for them. Tips should not be used to make up an employee's wage, to subsidise low wages, or to cover for breakages or shortages in cash or in payments. That sort of conduct by an employer can only be described as theft.

This Bill includes two simple and reasonable measures that the Dáil and the Government should support and introduce. It gives workers a legal right to their tips and it requires all restaurants and establishments to display their policy on how tips are distributed. If that were done, if this Bill were passed, then we would at least have a situation where staff would have access to the tips that customers intend for them.

There are a number of related areas to which I will refer briefly, as I do not have much time. The question of trade union representation for workers in the hospitality sector is an important one. I believe the trade union movement should be putting more effort into ensuring that workers in this sector are unionised.

As I stated, this is a low-wage sector. It is a minimum-wage sector. We need to ensure that all those employed, particularly in this area, would have not only the minimum wage but a living wage on which they could live decent lives and look after themselves and their families.

We must remember also that this sector is one that has had considerable support from the Government in the past few years. Six hundred million euro in VAT was given back to this sector for quite a number of years. It is a sector that has made significant profits over the last period.

This is an area I feel strongly about. I certainly will be supporting the Bill, and voting for it on Thursday. I ask that all Dáil Deputies do the same.

I ask the Government to reconsider its position on this Bill. As I stated, I believe it is arrogant, intransigent and anti-democratic. It would be in the Government's best interests to reconsider its situation. I call, in particular, on two Government supporters, the Ministers of State, Deputies Halligan and Finian McGrath, who in the past were known for their trade union membership and activities, to call the Government to account, to call them out on this Bill, and to vote in favour of this Bill on Thursday and ensure workers in this sector are treated fairly and get the tips that the customers intend for them.

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