Union challenged to name ‘guilty' hotels

The Irish Hotels Federation has challenged trade union officials to name hotels they claim are exploiting staff and paying less than the national minimum wage of €5.97 (£3.78) an hour.

The allegation has been made by officials of SIPTU, Ireland's largest union. They claim that a complaints hotline set up by the union in the Irish midlands received calls from hundreds of disgruntled hotel staff, claiming they were paid less than the minimum wage, worked excessive hours, received no overtime or premium pay for Sunday duty, and were given inadequate notice on rosters.

Union spokesman Adrian Kane said the callers had asked that their complaints be treated confidentially, "otherwise we would have named and shamed these rogue employers". He called for action by government inspectors "to tackle this exploitation".

But Hotels Federation chief executive John Power asked that the union provide details of the hotels named in the complaints, as the federation did not accept breaches of employment legislation by members. Employment standards and proper treatment of staff, he said, were guaranteed under a quality employer programme (QEP) in which federation members participated, and which covered more than 35,000 hotel staff.

Federation president Jim Murphy said SIPTU had an obligation to back up what he called "underhand allegations that hotel employees are being poorly treated".

In response, Kane said the union would be willing to supply the details, "provided the Hotels Federation guarantees that the staff making the complaints will not suffer any discrimination".

by Anthony Garvey