Staff protest at challenge to pay laws

Restaurant and catering workers staged a protest in Dublin today at what they claimed was an attack on basic pay and conditions in the sector.

Members of the Restaurant and Catering Workers Forum, established by trade union Siptu and the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI), gathered on O’Connell Street outside Supermac’s, Burger King and Eddie Rockets.

The fast-food chains are members of the Quick Service Food Alliance (QSFA), an industry group that is mounting a legal challenge to the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system, which sets minimum wages and conditions for workers in the sector.

In a case that opened today, the alliance is contesting the constitutionality of the JLC and the Labour Court’s right to make Employment Regulation Orders (EROs) which legally binds employers to pay certain wage rates.

The case before the High Court could have significant ramifications not just for those in the catering sector but for up to 300,000 workers across all 17 sectors where minimum pay rates are determined by the JLC system.

Restaurant owners have been calling for a reduction in wages laid down by the system on the grounds they made trading uncompetitive and that employees were already protected under the existing national minimum wage legislation.

Alliance chairman John Grace said: “It is unnecessary, unwarranted and unconstitutional that the Catering JLC and Labour Court sets higher rates than those provided for by the existing laws enacted by the Oireachtas.

However, Siptu claimed the big restaurant chains were attempting to erode minimum wage protections.

Siptu official Pat Ward said many of the protesting workers barely earn €350 a week, which is half the national average, and any further cuts in pay would push them into a “threshold of poverty”.

“Some of the food businesses mounting the legal challenge have seen their profits rise during the recession and this appears to be nothing more than an attempt to try and garner greater profitability off the backs of their workers," he said.

The fast food outlets in the alliance include Subway, Abrakebabra, Bagel Factory, Burger King, Eddie Rockets, Supermac's, Hillbillies, as well as a number of sandwich bars and Italian takeaways.

Bill Abom of the MRCI said some members of the alliance had seen their profits more than double last year despite the recession.

“The real issues in respect of the restaurant industry relate to commercial rents and the high cost of food and not the wages that workers are earning.”

“Cutting wages would not drive consumer demand. It’s flawed economics. Their challenge is not about creating jobs, it’s about making more profits,” he said.

Oktay Gencoglu, a restaurant worker in Naas and originally from Turkey:

"Restaurant workers are already struggling to support our families. Our hours have been cut, and many of us have seen our wages cut too. Any more cuts would be disastrous for us. We are here today to protest the Quick Service Food Alliance’s attack on our minimum wages. If they win their case our lives and the lives of thousands of others working under the JLC rates will be reduced to misery.

"Before the recession we were already suffering, and the recession has hit us very badly. We know that these food companies are making big profits. We are calling on the Quick Service Food Alliance to drop its challenge and for the Government to defend our wages from further attacks and cuts."

Sofia Binhayeemna Chok, a chef working in Dublin and originally from Thailand:

"I’m a single mother working as a chef in Dublin and if my wage is cut I simply can’t survive. The price of everything in Ireland has gone up in recent years . . . rent, bus fares, food and our salaries have gone down. It’s not fair. If this challenge goes against us, it will make life really difficult."