Trade unions celebrated Valentine’s Day last week by highlighting deficits in the transparency of tips policies in the restaurant and hospitality sectors. Members of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ (ICTU) One Galway group, which fosters cooperation between unions in the city, handed out leaflets urging customers to help ensure their tips actually go to the staff who serve them.

ICTU says one in three workers in the hospitality sector don’t get the tips customers leave, and that workers have no say in how tips are shared out. It has campaigned for legislation to improve transparency in the distribution of tips.

The National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill, which is expected to come before the Seanad this week, would give workers a legal right to their tips and require all restaurants to display a policy on how their tips are distributed.

The proposed legislation also aims to incentivise the introduction of fairer and more transparent systems for distributing tips in restaurants, pubs and hotels.

Last week’s ‘my tip my reward’ event took place on Quay Street in Galway. It coincided with a meeting between One Galway representatives and Senators Paul Gavin and Ged Nash, who are sponsoring the legislation.

Unions say tips are not a substitute for improved pay and conditions in a sector where workers are among the lowest paid, but that fairer distribution of tips could help them make ends meet.

You can find more information on the Bill HERE.