Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on the Bill. Like many others, I spent several years working in the hospitality sector. I understand how poorly paid are those working in the sector, how challenging a job it is and how important tips are to staff right across the hospitality sector. My party and I support the Bill. It is important. There has been a long campaign on this matter. It is great to see it advancing through the various Stages.

I commend the constant effort of hospitality staff.

From personal experience, I know that when you work in the hospitality sector, you are drained at the end of each day. It is extremely tiring work. The last thing you want to do is get involved in a campaign. The fact that they are committed and working to make changes is a credit to them. It is also a credit to the trade union movement, which has been extremely active during this campaign. As Deputy O'Reilly said, the One Galway movement has also led the way. SIPTU, Mandate and Unite the Union have all campaigned tirelessly on this issue for many years. My colleague, Senator Gavan, has been a constant voice in support of workers in the hospitality sector for a long time. He highlighted the issue of tips being withheld by employers. In 2017 he introduced the National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017. Unfortunately, that was blocked by the previous Fine Gael-led Government, which made it the subject of a money message.

A high number of workers in the hospitality sector frequently see their hard-earned tips being withheld by employers. We have seen from research that one in three workers do not receive the tips that they earn. The change in stance by Fine Gael is very welcome. I commend the Tánaiste, whose engagement in the process relating to this issue has been very important in resolving and ensuring that the Bill was brought forward. It is important to acknowledge his contribution. Amid the cost-of-living crisis whereby so many low- and middle- income workers are struggling from week to week, it is hard to see their tips being withheld and gratuities taken from them by employers. As Deputy O'Reilly said, people want to see staff getting the tips they leave for them. They pay the staff who have been serving them during the night and delivering excellent service, and they want the tips they leave to go to those staff.

Ireland has one of the highest rates of low pay in the developed world, with 20% of our workers in low-paid jobs and 50% of women currently earning €20,000 a year or less. A high proportion of those employed in the hospitality sector are low-income workers, and their tips and gratuities can make or break their week. The withholding of tips and wages is especially rampant in the food and drink and hospitality sector in which large numbers of women and migrant workers are employed. In the context of these sectors, you would expect tips, gratuities and service charges left by customers for workers to end up in workers' pockets. Little do the majority of tipping customers realise the extent of the practice of withholding of tips, gratuities and service charges by employers. Employers pocketing tips and gratuities meant for workers must be treated as what it is, namely, an unfair practice. In many ways, it is about power. It is the power of employers to impose whatever measures they want on staff. It is up to the State and the Government to ensure that this legislation is delivered.

We need the penalty for wages withheld by employers to be increased to a class A fine of €5,000 and not the proposed class C fine of €2,500. Over the past ten years, almost €18 million in withheld wages has been returned to workers after investigation by the WRC. While legislation to protect employees’ tips will have a profound impact on workers in the hospitality sector, we must also acknowledge that workers should not be dependent on tips in order to live. Workers need to be paid a living wage. Relying on tips to survive is the result of what has happened in the context of a sector in which low pay, precarious employment and poor working conditions have been normalised. We need to see the hospitality sector engage with trade unions and work to re-establish the joint labour committee.

Many of the recruitment and staffing issues the hospitality sector faces could be resolved by an effective joint labour committee. Without a system involving tiered rates of pay, overtime rates, Sunday premiums, holiday entitlements and sick pay, the sector will continue to face many of the same issues it faces at present.

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