Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste is very welcome. It is nice to see him and it is nice to see the Bill. I welcome it on behalf of Sinn Féin. Some of us have been on a long campaign journey in respect of this issue. Today is an important day on that journey and I wish to acknowledge in particular my colleagues in the trade union movement, the One Galway movement, SIPTU, Mandate and Unite who have campaigned tirelessly on this issue for many years. I, along with my Sinn Féin colleagues, was very proud to present a Bill on this very issue alongside our trade union brothers and sisters back in 2017. That Bill subsequently passed all Stages in the Seanad despite the opposition of Fine Gael but, more important, it kicked off a national conversation about tips and the importance of legislating for the protection of employee tips. Since then, there has been consistent further campaigning by the trade union movement. The Tánaiste's Department has had important engagements with it on this issue which I welcome. I particularly welcome the recognition of the work done by Dr. Deirdre Curran of NUI Galway. She has been a tireless campaigner for employee rights across the hospitality sector and on this issue. The Bill is very welcome.

A significant amount of research has been done. Sinn Féin research carried out in 2016 indicated that one in three workers in hospitality were not getting their tips. The research by Dr. Curran suggested that figure was one in four. More recent research undertaken by Unite suggests the figure may be closer to 50%. I acknowledge, as have other Senators, that the majority of employers in the sector are very good. Senator Crowe is correct - one builds trust with employees by playing honestly and fairly with them in terms of tips and how they are distributed. Let us be clear that there is a problem, however. The research indicates there has been a problem in this sector for some time and it needs to be dealt with.

I acknowledge the Bill does several important things. It places tips and gratuities outside the scope of a person's contractual wages, ensuring that tips cannot be used to top up a worker's wage. This is important and very welcome. The obligation on employers to display prominently their policy on the distribution of cash and electronic tips is also worthwhile. The clear obligation on employers to distribute all electronic tips is welcome. As the Tánaiste mentioned, that seems to be the way payments are going in the sector.

Crucially, the Bill will establish a right of redress for employees. This is why I started the Sinn Féin Bill in the first place. I came across an employee in Limerick whose restaurant manager and business owner taunted her at nights, taking the tips of €5 and €10 and saying, "My restaurant, my tips", before walking away. I wanted to bring a case to the Workplace Relations Commission on her behalf but, of course, I found there was no right of redress. The good news in the context of the Bill is there is now a right of redress in respect of electronic payments. That does not seem to be the case in respect of cash payments. I may be wrong, but that is how I am reading the Bill. I take the point made by the Tánaiste that it is more complicated but I still think something should be done in this regard because, to take the example I have just given, even after the Bill is passed, the woman to whom I referred will have no right of redress for those cash tips. We should try to ensure there is a right of redress not just for electronic tips, but cash tips also. That would be a good improvement to the Bill.

I acknowledge the fact that the Tánaiste stated he will work with us on amendments. I know he gave the same message to the Unite union in particular just two weeks ago. I welcome that and we will work with him positively to strengthen the Bill.

My biggest concern relates to service charges. One of the five stated purposes of the Bill is to "leave the status quo in relation to mandatory service charges forming part of the revenue of a business". I have a problem with this. Service charges should not form part of the revenue of a business. To digress momentarily, I discovered just last week how service charges came about in Ireland. They came about as a result of a strike in hotels in Dublin that went on for several months in 1951. The solution to that strike was a collective agreement between unions and hotels to introduce a service charge. The service charge would be owned by the employees through the trade unions and distributed through the trade unions. That is how service charges came about. They were to ensure justice and better pay for workers in hotels in Dublin.

As Dr. Deirdre Curran asked in an article published last week, "When did it become accepted there that service charges are the prerogative of the employer and why?" I welcome the indication by the Tánaiste that he has asked his officials to consider an amendment that would also prohibit the use of mandatory service charges to make up wages and would require that such service charges go to staff as income. That is what needs to happen because, as the Tánaiste stated, when people go to restaurants and see a service charge, they make the assumption that it is going to the workers and they will probably not give a tip on top of it. Bearing in mind from where service charges in this country come, let us do what is right by the workers. I hope the Tánaiste will work positively with us in that regard. Sinn Féin will be bringing forward an amendment on this issue but we are keen to work constructively with the Tánaiste in respect of that particular issue.

In my final couple of minutes, I wish to clarify another point. I think the Tánaiste was saying in his speech that, basically, optional service charges and discretionary service charges are now being deemed to be the same as tips and gratuities. If that is correct, it is a very welcome clarification because that was another concern the unions raised with me.

The final point I wish to make is in the broader context of the industry. The Tánaiste will be aware that in 2008 the joint labour committee, JLC, system for the hospitality sector was struck down by employers. That was a significant blow to workers in the industry because that system did not just establish tiered rates of pay such that one could look forward to a career in the industry, it also dealt with issues such as paid breaks, overtime rates, Sunday premiums, holiday entitlements and sick pay. These were laws that protected low-paid and sweated labour and predated the foundation of the State. It was a significant blow to have those laws struck down by the High Court.

It was a colleague of the Tánaiste, Deputy Bruton, who reinstated legislation for JLCs in 2012. Here is the difficulty, however. For ten years now, employer groups in the hospitality sector have refused to engage with that process. We are coming out of a pandemic and a phrase all present like to use - I think we all mean it - is that we want to build back better. We will not build back better if we do not reinstate a floor of decency across the sector in terms of minimum conditions and standards agreed through negotiation with the trade union movement. The Government has rightly given a range of supports to keep the hospitality sector going through the pandemic. Is it really too much to ask that, in return for those supports, the employer groups sit down with trade unions and re-establish a JLC? To me, it was shocking to learn that workers in hotels could avail of sick pay back in the early 2000s but they have no chance of doing so at the moment. At that time, they could have a decent Sunday premium. Some Sunday premiums now amount to 15 cent. It used to be negotiated and agreed.

These points are important in the context of ensuring people can make a decent living in the sector. There is a wider context here. The Bill is an important step forward. Sinn Féin acknowledges that and will work with the Tánaiste but we need to address the elephant in the room. Some 43% of low-paid workers work in hospitality, retail and wholesale. We need to ensure a better future for them so that people can look forward to a career in those sectors. That will not come about without proper engagement and negotiation. It is regrettable but true that it is the hotel employers sector in particular that has resisted that. I ask the Government to address that issue.