The Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport & Media has published its Report on Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland's Tourism and Hospitality Sector. It says there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that workers and businesses in the Sector face real obstacles to decent working lives and to full complements of staff.
Workers report issues with wages, employment precarity, harmful workplace behaviours, and trade union access while employers face acute staff shortages and are in need of a vast range of skills that they cannot attract solely from the domestic population.
Speaking on the publication of the report, Deputy Niamh Smyth, Cathaoirleach of the Committee, said the sector was central to the vitality of the Irish economy. She added how the Committee is calling for stronger and more explicit governance measures for the re-establishment of the Joint Labour Committee system for the reinforcement of Workplace Relation Commission operations in the sector.
The Cavan Monaghan TD also highlighted that greater protections need to be afforded to workers in the sector. "We came up with a number of recommendations including the introduction of an oversight body.
"The idea would be that it would assist the Inspectorate within the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). That does a lot of work on making sure that employees' conditions are safe and good. Because that can be a problem for staff," the local TD added.
