Top Dublin Hotels displacing Irish staff

dublin | worker & community struggles and protests | news report

Saturday April 22, 2006 16:20

by Liam Mullen - Freelance Journalist

A source within the hotel industry has revealed how top Dublin hotels like the Burlington and the Jury’s chain are offering voluntary severance packages to their staff in the hope of re-employing cheap migrant labour.

A source within the hotel industry has revealed how top Dublin hotels like the Burlington and the Jury’s chain are offering voluntary severance packages to their staff in the hope of re-employing cheap migrant labour.
This policy is creating the tensions that existed with the Irish Ferries and the Gama dispute. The hotels in question are encouraging long-term Irish employees to avail of the packages, and many Irish employees are considering their options, having witnessed a previous exodus of friends and colleagues. Many are struck by the new environment in which they have to labour, and are losing their appetites for working in an environment which now contains so many strangers.
Although there is no denying the rich experience migrants bring to our shores, the policies of top hotels in seeking to replace Irish workers is damaging morale within the industry. It doesn’t always work out for the hotels either. Last year, a well known
Dublin City hotel employed a Muslim barman and were forced to terminate his employment when he refused to serve alcohol. The man claimed that serving alcohol was offensive to his religious beliefs, and wanted to only serve teas and coffees.
By displacing Irish staff willing to work within the hospitality industry in Ireland, top hotels are fulfilling Pat Rabbitte’s hypothesis of a “race to the bottom”. Union sources are also fearful of this. Another well-known landmark, which played a pivotal role in suppressing the Stephen’s Green fighting during the 1916 Easter Rising – the Shelbourne – recently advertised a large number of positions to be filled following its refurbishment. It remains to be seen how many former employees will be re-employed, or whether the balance of employment will favour the new migrant workforce? Perhaps the new census will give us some answers?

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Comments (6 of 6)

Careful of language used

by Caoimhe

Sun Apr 23, 2006 14:11

While I dont necessarily disagree with the general topic of your story you need to be careful about the tone that these storys can often look to be written in.

For example 'Many are struck by the new environment in which they have to labour, and are losing their appetites for working in an environment which now contains so many strangers.'

I personally have worked (in the beverages and catering section) for a Jurys hotel for the past year and a half and there is no divsion among the staff on the basis of nationality. The migrant workers are most definetly not 'strangers' to the rest of the staff. To claim that ppl are 'losing their appetite' to work because there are 'so many' migrant workers in the work environment is rubbish in my experience.

The divisions that do exist on the basis of nationality of staff are that the migrant workers are often expected to work even longer hours than the Irish staff (the Irish staff are expected to work too long hours as it is, but the migrant workers are worked even harder).

If wages and working conditions drop where there is a strong presence of migrant workers this is due to employers exploting workers. The migrant workers are not the cause of these problems, the employers are who have found yet another way to exploit their employees are. we as employees need to be very careful not accept the current discourse that our fellow employees are the problem and keep focused on the fact that our employers and our employers alone are the ones causing the wage and working conditions problems.

Where does it stop??

by Observer

Sun Apr 23, 2006 15:21

How much longer can the job displacements continue? With this in mind, surely, in a few years time, there will be no such thing as a 'summer job' for college students or those alike because of this whole job dispossession. I doubt P. Rabbette will make much of a difference if he gets into office the next term on the wrok permits issue. His immigration policy is a farce. Wonder what his work permit policy will be like? The same??

Response to Caoimhe

Mon Apr 24, 2006 01:39

I accept your point Caoimhe that your experience may have been different, but the report I received on the matter indicates that there are underlying tensions.

Laim Mullen tabloid journalist

by vagueness

Mon Apr 24, 2006 01:51

Last year, a well known
Dublin City hotel employed a Muslim barman and were forced to terminate his employment when he refused to serve alcohol. The man claimed that serving alcohol was offensive to his religious beliefs, and wanted to only serve teas and coffees.

Tensions Shmensions

by DennisL

Tue Aug 08, 2006 18:29

I very much doubt that any but the most xenophobic of Irish hospitality workers are loosing their appetite for work due to varied nationalities. I've worked in hotels when I was younger, and I have never seen any division based on nationality. The fact is that in order to stay competitive Irish hotels need to hire staff that don't feel the over-whelming sense of self-entitlement that blights the Irish. Hair-dressers, block-layers, waiters and IT staff all feel that they are owed the world simply for doing a hard days work. Lucky we have the Poles and the Lithuanians to show us what work ethic is really about.

Feck off

by pfft

Tue Aug 08, 2006 18:35

Lucky we have the Poles and the Lithuanians to show us what work ethic is really about.

Maybe we can get a few chinese and vietnamese to show them what work ethic is

Shit lads lets open up a few sweat shops--NOW thats real work ethic

DONT MAKE ME LAUGH
TIS SIMPLE REALLY

CHEAP LABOUR =MORE PROFIT FOR THE SHITHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY

INDEED

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Top Dublin Hotels displacing Irish staff

Comments (6 of 6)