Sherlock backs tips legislation for workers

Cork East TD Seán Sherlock has spoken strongly in favour of the Sinn Fein National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill, accusing the Government of again using legisaltive tricks to halkt real Opposition legisaltion.

“I came to the House with the expectation that the Government would have taken into consideration the points made in the Seanad and supported the Bill on that basis, but I am disappointed to hear, yet again, that it will use the tool of the money message to stymie the Bill,” said Deputy Sherlock on behalf of the Labour Party which supports the Bill.

“It is a practice that has become more prevalent as this Dáil progresses, particularly where robust legislative measures are proposed by the Opposition. It is another form of the guillotine, to be frank. There was much discourse previously about the use of the guillotine, and the money message has become its replacement, in my humble opinion.”

“I read the Minister’s speech and I am still trying to internalise most of it. I am speaking off the cuff about it, to be honest. I do not understand the Minister’s use of the report of the Low Pay Commission as a mechanism to oppose this Bill. Points were made about tips by the Low Pay Commission in its report, but it is not useful to use that as a Trojan Horse for opposition to the Bill. I was hopeful that the Minister would say there were challenges laid out in the Low Pay Commission’s report and suggest that we try to meet those challenges head-on by working together through amendments on Committee Stage to seek to legislate for this principle in respect of people who receive gratuities. I worked in the hospitality sector as a student and I know one becomes reliant on tips. Arguably, they form part of one’s income, but they are nonetheless gratuities.”

There is a cultural precept whereby tipping is very much part of the hospitality sector. Where the gratuity is given it provides an additional form of income but it is not, of itself, the primary form of income. If we move away from that cultural aspect, we will do a disservice to people in the hospitality sector. The principle that Senator Gavan and others are seeking to establish in this legislation is that people would retain those gratuities and the gratuities would be recognised for what they are, which is something over and above the wage accrued by the individual worker.”

“However, the Minister has come to the House with quite a bureaucratic and technocratic response, using the Low Pay Commission report as a mechanism to kick this legislative proposal to touch. The idea of the troncmaster is used as a mechanism to oppose the legislation by saying the troncmaster would have certain obligations in respect of reporting to the Revenue Commissioners. This is not insurmountable. It could be legislated for on Committee Stage if we are imaginative. It is not good enough to come to the House to express sympathy or empathy for the situation in which workers find themselves unless one comes forward with an alternative or at least an expression of goodwill towards progressing the legislation, without using a de facto guillotine of the Bill through the money message tool.”

“The ownership of tips is not considered wages under the Payment of Wages Act. That appears to be the kernel of this. There is a majority view in the House in favour of this legislation. If a majority view in favour of the legislation has been articulated by the political representatives of parties and entities, it is a matter for the Government to allow this Bill to proceed to further examination on Committee Stage. We must recognise the majoritarian view and the paradigm that exists in this House whereby if the majority of political parties express a view in favour of legislation, the Government of the day should respect that and at least allow it to proceed to the next Stage. We will wait to see what happens on Thursday in respect of allowing it to proceed to the next Stage, but I again lament the fact that the money message has been used as a tool to stymie this Bill when it has already been passed by the Seanad.”

“We stand unequivocally by this Sinn Féin Bill. We recognise the people who helped to craft the Bill and we recognise it as a genuine attempt to ensure that people who receive gratuities get what is duly theirs, without putting a bureaucratic or technocratic imposition on that. From a cultural and societal point of view in the hospitality and other sectors there is a recognition of the principle of giving a gratuity or tip. We should legislate to ensure that the tip goes to its rightful owner.”