Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following:

""employee" has the meaning assigned to it by the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997;".

I welcome the Minister to the House. There is a tremendous show of support for the Bill in the Visitors Gallery, including by colleagues from SIPTU, Mandate, ICTU and Fórsa. I see, too, representatives of the One Galway and One Cork movements, which comprise trade unionists, student unionists and community groups, all of whom have played an instrumental role in supporting these proposals. The Bill has taken on a life of its own because there was real strength of feeling that a wrong was being done to workers in this sector. I pay tribute to all the people in the Gallery who have worked to progress these proposals. I am proud that the Bill was brought forward by Sinn Féin but, in fact, it belongs to our visitors, who campaigned on the streets to raise awareness of the issues. Some of them were in Ratoath last weekend voicing their support for the Bill and asking Senators to support it. I welcome, too, the warm support from colleagues in the Labour Party, the Civic Engagement Group and the Independent Group of Senators. I understood our Fianna Fáil colleagues will likewise support the Bill. We do politics best in this Chamber when we find where agreement can be reached and take a cross-party approach.

The Bill proposes to do two simple things. First, it gives hospitality workers a right to their tips. We know from research that one in three workers does not get his or her tips. Second, the Bill requires restaurants to display their tipping policy, something all customers would welcome. At the heart of the Bill is our view is that all workers who deliver a service in an establishment where a service charge is levied on customers should receive that fee. Mr. Richard Grogan, an employment law specialist who contributed to the work of the Low Pay Commission and described its report as staggering, has acknowledged that this is at the heart of the Bill. Customers who pay a service charge in a restaurant assume, as I did before getting involved in this, that the charge will go to the workers. However, we know from the excellent work of The Irish Timesjournalist, Ms Deirdre Falvey, that in many cases - in large chain restaurants, in particular - the owners pocket the service charge and the tips.

We had a meeting yesterday in Leinster House to which we invited Oireachtas Members to hear about our proposals. I regret to say that it was attended by colleagues from all parties and groupings save one. I have spoken to colleagues in Fine Gael who tell us they really want to support the Bill and cannot understand why the Minister is opposed to it. Yesterday, we heard testimony from a worker in a restaurant 100 yd. from this building who has been seeking to validate her right to the tips which were being withheld by the employer. When she joined a trade union with a view to organising to ensure she and her colleagues received the tips to which they are entitled, she and one colleague were fired. It is important to note that there are many good employers, but there is a problem in the sector. We know that 67% of the establishments that were inspected last year did not comply with basic employment law. That is a shocking statistic. It is a matter of regret that the Restaurants Association of Ireland, a representative of which I debated on LMFM Radio this morning, has refused to engage with workers, trade unions or joint labour committees to resolve this issue. I do not understand why the Minister sided with that body rather than coming down on the side of justice. I appeal to her, in a spirit of co-operation, not to divide the House today.We have support across the Chamber and I ask the Minister to work with us on the Bill. I wrote to her on 6 March and regret to say I never received a response. I also wrote to her colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Breen, who was in the Seanad for the last session on Committee Stage and did not receive a response from him either. We want to work with the Minister on the Bill which will not pass into law today, it will just pass through the Seanad. It still has to pass through the Dáil. If the Minister has concerns, she should work with us before the Bill is taken to the Dáil. If she kills it today, it will be the last opportunity in this Oireachtas to deal with the issue, which would be more than disappointing as there are too many workers who depend on tips to make a living each week and deserve justice.

What is the Bill about? I will tell the Minister how it started. It is about a woman I met in Limerick who was taunted in a night club in Limerick by her employer. It is a prestigious restaurant which I shall not name. The employer taunted her about the fact that she would never see her tips and that there was nothing she could do about it. The Bill is also about my brother-in-law who has worked in the restaurant sector all of his life. He has seen his tips stolen in almost every restaurant in which he has worked. The Bill is about the man in the west who works in a five-star hotel who was told that he would get his tips at Christmas. He left the position in October and when he called to the hotel, he was told, "I am sorry, but we are not going to give you the tips because you are no longer an employee."

The list of reasons tips are held on to is huge. They include breakages; the employee is a trainee; it has been a slow night; or a fiver is missing from the till. All of these reasons are trotted out. It is particularly unhelpful that the employer bodies have consistently refused to engage with Senators in this Chamber who represent trade unions and workers. We are aware that while Minister has met the employers, she has not met anyone in this Chamber. I say that respectfully. Senators asked for meetings but were informed that the Minister was too busy, although I acknowledge Senators have met some of her staff. There is something uneven and unequal in what is happening. I do not wish to make the issue party political because we are better than that, but all Senators are aware that there is a significant issue with tips which we should and need to tackle. However, I really regret to say it appears as though Fine Gael will vote against giving hospitality workers a right to receive their tips.

I shall deal with some of the other reasons given and then conclude. I am aware that I will have the right to respond to the debate on the amendment.

The issue of taxation has been brought up, but it is an absolute red herring. The position is clear. One is obliged to pay tax on tips. That is the law and the Bill does not change it in any way or fashion whatsoever. It has been suggested that in giving workers a legal right to receive their tips an army of Revenue inspectors will descend on these low paid workers who are on or earning just above the national minimum wage to demand their tip money. That is without any credibility whatsoever and it is significant that the suggestion originally came from the Restaurants Association of Ireland. They are the same people who will not talk to Senators.

Interestingly, on LMFM this morning the head of the Restaurants Association of Ireland - I will not name him - got into an awful pickle. At one point he said overall revenues were boosted by 10% by tips. He then realised what he had said and in the next part of the interview said he had not said it, but all of the listeners had heard it. There is a problem in the sector and we have a simple Bill which will protect hospitality workers in receiving their tips. It will require restaurants to display their policy on tipping. Good employers, of which there are many, have absolutely nothing to fear from the Bill.

I appeal once again to the Minister and her colleagues in Fine Gael. I do not believe it would serve the Chamber well to vote against the Bill. We have offered co-operation and to work with the Minister. It is a sincere offer made on a cross-party basis. I again acknowledge the tremendous support received across the Chamber. Colleagues were out on the streets in Galway, especially Senator Gerald Nash who has worked with me, with our colleagues from the Labour Party, those in the Civic Engagement group and Independent Members who came to me to say they would support me in the vote today. There has been an indication from Fianna Fáil Senators that they will do the same. I do not want this to be a victory for Sinn Féin; rather, I want it to be a victory for workers in the hospitality sector. As things stand, unfortunately, the Minister appears to be saying no. I ask her again to work with us. She has not met the people concerned, but they are here today. They have taken time off work to come because they know that there is a problem. Unfortunately, the Minister has said she will produce a Bill, of which nobody had heard until yesterday, this after eight years in government. While she has said there is a Bill in the offing, it will not tackle the key legal issue of giving hospitality workers a legal right to receive their tips. That is what we need. Even the Tory Party Government in Britain which may be the maddest Tory Party Government we have ever seen-----