SIPTU is seeking a restriction on the daily hours of work and the operation of split shifts in the catering industry. The union also wants the introduction of a sick pay and pension scheme, a SIPTU spokesman, Mr Norman Croke, said in a submission to a Labour Court appointed review of the operation of the Joint Labour Committee for the catering industry.
He claimed that although the hotel, restaurant and catering industry employed 171,000 and was projected to increase its workforce by 30,000 new jobs over the next four years, there were already strong indications of a skills shortage and an unwillingness by school leavers and the unemployed to apply for jobs because of low pay and long, unsocial hours without adequate recognition or compensation.