Workers protest at fast-food outlets

RESTAURANT AND catering workers staged a protest in Dublin yesterday 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 has begun a High Court challenge to the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system which sets minimum wages and conditions for the sector.

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.”

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.