Anton McNulty
THE CALL by the Irish Hotels’ Federation (IHF) for the introduction of a pay freeze among workers in the hotel industry, in a bid to curtail costs, has been described as ‘opportunistic’ and ‘preposterous’ by a trade union official in Mayo.
Last week, the IHF called for wage restraint in the short-to-medium term because of the major challenges which the hotel industry is facing due to the ‘substantial slowdown in domestic consumer demand’. They are predicting that the current year will be the most challenging in the last decade and by curtailing costs, over which they have control, they say the hotel sector will have a chance to emerge as a ‘more sustainable industry’.
Mr John Rafferty, Mayo IHF Branch Chairman, explained that due to the inability of hotels to recover through price increases and additional sales the cost of legally-binding wage increases awarded in 2007 and 2008, it is now essential that there is a pay pause until the end of the 2009 season.
“Many of the issues facing us are outside of our control, such as the strength of the Euro in international markets, the high price of oil and, in the domestic economy, the slowdown in private housing construction. This year, the absence of strong domestic demand will probably result in increased pressure on hotel prices. This places the onus on hotel managers to reduce costs in areas over which they have some control.
“Care must always be taken to ensure that a reduction in costs is not at the expense of customer satisfaction – that would ultimately jeopardise the long-term business proposition. This level of wage costs is not sustainable; therefore, every effort must be made to reduce this figure through efficiencies and increased productivity, even in the face of a difficult economic climate,” he said.
However, Mr Noel Kilfeather, a senior SIPTU official in Mayo, told The Mayo News it was absolutely preposterous for the hotel industry to call for a pay freeze when its employees are on the lower end of the pay scale. He said the hotel industry had benefited from the low pay paid out to workers during the last decade and called the request for a pay freeze opportunistic.
“It is absolutely preposterous that an industry, which is not regarded as an industry with employees on the higher level of pay, to call for a pay freeze. We have had unprecedented activity in the economy in the last 15 years and during that time the workers in that sector have taken on moderate pay increases to ensure the economy prospered. I have not seen any hotels closing down recently. I have seen hotels refurbished and extended and new hotels being built, and to call for a pay freeze and talk about recession is opportunistic and unnecessary,” he said.
The call for a pay freeze was also criticised by Castlebar town councillor, Michael Kilcoyne, who said the IHF should be ashamed to target the workers. He said that the National Employment Rights Association had retrieved thousands of Euro from hotels on behalf of workers who were underpaid, and he had represented a number of workers in the hotel sector.
“The hotel industry should be ashamed but I would not expect anything different from them than to claim the poor mouth. During the good times they didn’t share their capital with the workers and I reject any call for a pay freeze,” said Cllr Kilcoyne.
