Ireland’s hotel sector has a majority immigrant workforce, a high proportion emanating from Poland. But as one Polish woman tells CATHERINE REILLY, getting one’s rights has been an uphill struggle that often requires strong trade unionism
FOUR YEARS ago, Beata (not her real name) came to Ireland with her daughter, joining her husband here. The softly spoken young woman arrived amid a sea of fellow Poles who thronged the Irish labour market.
But the ‘Irish dream’ wasn’t exactly what it appeared. Many well-educated eastern Euro-peans worked – and continue to work – in low-skilled employment, while unscrupulous employers were quick to capitalise on low-wage expectations.
As for Beata, she began working part-time in a Dublin Leisureplex, but later landed a waitressing job at a hotel near the airport. It promised more hours and a steadier income, and she started in early 2007.
However, all was not as it seemed. Her contract of employment didn’t surface for weeks, and when it did, it promised little of what she’d been originally offered.
“First of all they told me that I had a full-time job but unfortunately the contract was part-time,” Beata tells Metro Éireann. “They said sometimes I’ll have more hours, sometimes less hours, I was never sure how many hours I would be having.”
She was paid €9 per hour (above the current minimum wage) but this ‘generosity’ seemed to be compensated for by the hotel in other ways.
Tips to staff made by customers through credit card were withheld, and payslips were routinely late, if issued at all. Staff were so used to this that they would rarely ask for them, says Beata.
According to the Pole, the hotel then sacked some of its duty managers – who were Irish – and replaced them with people from eastern Europe. “Because they knew we’d be happy with less money [than Irish managers],” she says.
Sunday premiums weren’t paid, and staff didn’t know where to turn. They were regularly overworked, and Beata says she often thought about walking out during a shift because of unreasonable demands. But she knew that one less body would mean even more work for her colleagues.
It was a distinctly unhappy and exploitative situation, to which the hotel guests were no doubt oblivious.
But the mood began to shift when a colleague of Beata – another Polish woman – got a “warning letter” from human resources, one which she deemed highly unfair.
This woman contacted trade union Siptu, and a union rep accompanied her to a meeting with the hotel’s HR manager. There, the stress and overwork that many staff were feeling came out, and the presence of the union rep made management sit up and listen.
