Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill and congratulate Senator Gavan for his work on it. I also congratulate Senator Ó Clochartaigh who did important work around the research into the realities of the experience of workers in the Galway area. I know he has also highlighted other workers’ rights concerns in that area. I welcome the representatives of SIPTU and others to the Gallery.

I will be supporting the Bill. There has been much discussion about its positive intentions. This House, however, is not just simply in the business of positive intentions but of policies. Much as I want to see these positive intentions turned into real and concrete policies, similarly, although I am sure there are positive intentions among most employers for their employees’ well-being, the fact is that those intentions are not enough. They need to be underpinned by clear and accountable policies which are published, as the Bill proposes, to allow customers know about how a business works with its employees, values them and deals with tips. There are also public and legal policies which act as the ultimate safeguard in ensuring fair practice and fair treatment.

The fact is we are not dealing with a tabula rasaor thinking about tips in some abstract way. We are in fact dealing with tables with money on them, maybe coins or a few euro. That money has been given by people who receive services. This will not stop during a six-month review by the Low Pay Commission but continue. Accordingly, it is important we send a signal now by ensuring this Bill stays on the table and moves from Second Stage to show it matters how that money is divided. We should not simply wait to see what might happen with it, whether the employer will choose to ensure it is shared or it will be taken by them. There are real concerns about the power dynamics involved. It was mentioned that an employee could go to the Labour Court. I do not foresee a situation where most employees would feel able to go to Labour Court around a case such as this, particularly in many of the service sector areas where wages, conditions and job security have been deeply eroded in recent years.

Some of those issues spoken about earlier, as Senator Davitt pointed out, are not on the table now but do set an important context. We all know this is not the solution to the bigger picture issues which we need, such as the question of moving from a minimum wage to a living wage, the need for real pressure around joint labour committees and the fact we should not be giving tax relief to sectors when they do not deliver on good standards of employment for everyone in them. While these are the wider issues, this issue is simple and straightforward which we can push forward now to send a signal, as legislators, about the tone in which we expect business to behave.

Some of those most affected by these issues in the service sector are women. I have nothing against the Low Pay Commission examining this issue but it can happen in parallel with the legislation moving forward. If we get timely feedback from the Low Paid Commission, I have no doubt Senator Gavan and others will be happy to incorporate it in the Bill as it goes through Committee and Report Stages. They are open to cross-party discussions on this area.

We cannot simply wait for the Low Pay Commission research, however. We already know from it that two thirds of those on low pay are women, the majority of those in the service sector are women and wages in that sector have not been risen like the rates of profit in it. That in itself should be enough to ensure we are seeking to take every step we can to improve the situation for workers in the most immediate way.

Younger employees were mentioned, those under 18 and in apprenticeships, for example. They may not even be on the minimum wage and are often on lower wages. The supplementary income they may get from tips is important. Tips are also an important signal to them, early in their working life, that they are valued by customers which is reflected by their employer.

The tip most of us put on the table, for example after a meal, is intended for the employee and is not part of the remuneration package from the employer. This is a payment from the customer, given in recognition of service. Many tip in cash because they are concerned that, if they tip with a payment card, it will not be properly passed on to the employee. It would in fact be positive if Revenue ensured if people tipped with a card payment, it would reach employees properly.

The Bill has good nuances in that it recognises small employers, for example, who in many cases may work alongside their employees, and should get their fair share.That is a very positive nuance in the Bill. I will support the Bill and urge everybody not just to recognise and praise it but to actively support it because that would send an important message to employers as we go into the summer tourism season. Let us support the Bill and see it get to Committee Stage, and enjoy any feedback we get from the Low Pay Commission at that Stage of the process.