Irish tourism boom sparks union drive

By Angela Frewin

The hotel boom in the Irish Republic has prompted the country's biggest union to plan its first recruitment drive in five years for new members in hotels and catering.

During the five-month campaign, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (Siptu) will target newcomers such as Stakis and Holiday Inn, which it says are reluctant to let in trade unions.

With predictions that hospitality will become the country's number one employer by the millennium, the campaign will seek to attract young people in a sector whose growth has already outstripped the supply of skilled staff.

Frank O'Malley, the union's branch secretary for hotel, restaurant and catering workers, wants to recruit new members before the next economic downturn. He believes only well-organised hotels that can maintain high standards by keeping good staff will meet the demands of long-haul tourists from Japan or the US West Coast. Such visitors will become more important as the European market slows down.

Shorter term, he believes Siptu can act as a staff agency to ease the staffing crisis that has prompted some hotels to pay in excess of union rates (about £6.40 an hour for waiters in Dublin), poach staff, seek workers from abroad, hire casual youngsters or train the unemployed.

The campaign will link with training authorities and, possibly, management bodies to combat hospitality's bad image of unsociable hours and low pay and convince youngsters that it can be a rewarding career.

O'Malley is hopeful that new players such as Stakis will come on board. Philip Uzice, operations director at the Forte Posthouse in Dublin, believes pressure from staff will make it difficult for newcomers to buck the prevailing union culture.

More problematic, claims O'Malley, are builders and investors who focus on boosting occupancy just to sell the property after a few years.