The Covid-19 pandemic has left many industries picking up the pieces after months of being temporarily shut down due to the spreading of the virus in the community.
Airlines, restaurants, bars, and retailers across the country are continuing to hire more and more staff to fill the void - however, the latest wave of Covid is throwing yet another spanner in the works.
With the recent rise in cases, comes a jump in the number of staff at home isolating with positive antigen tests - leaving businesses with a shortage of available employees amid the busy summer season.
READ MORE: Popular Galway restaurant forced to close doors due to economic pressure
Fionn Sexton Connolly spoke to ClareFM this afternoon about losing his job as a chef during the pandemic and how he has now returned to the industry as a waiter.
He says that there are staff members in some jobs who are having to work up to 70 hours a week for sub-par wages, and says they are on the verge of breaking point.
He said: “Having worked as a chef for most of my time in the hospitality industry, I can definitely attest to the fact that you’re asking ordinary people, on very ordinary sub-par wages, to do extraordinary acts day-in-day-out.
“I know from my own time as a chef, multiple times we would be asked to pull 55, 60, 70 hour weeks, week-on-week during certain summer seasons.
“Even throughout the last few lockdowns, it was getting harder and harder and harder to go back to work, it was getting harder and harder going back into these kitchens and to the hospitality sector because the conditions were only actively getting worse.
“The exploitation of people in certain sectors was only getting worse because of this lack of staff that they were experiencing - more was being put on fewer.”
Since making the change, Fionn said: “I’m actually quite happy to be working as a waiter now in a very fair and a very nice place where I can actually work the hours I need to work and not feel this constant pressure and this constant push towards working harder and longer just for the sake of covering for somebody who wasn’t able to make it in or couldn’t be hired.”
Speaking about the toll that these 70-hour weeks were having, he said: “The first week you do it, you’re almost running on adrenaline, you know you’re getting into it it’s almost like a workout, but come the second week and the third week in the height of July and August, it wears down on you. And it’s not just the physical side of it, your batteries are worn down socially.”
Another issue among those working in the hospitality industry is alcohol and drug use, and alarmingly, Fionn said he was aware of many people using to get through the working week.
“I know a lot of people that are working in the sector and are relying on drink and drugs just to get through the working week, or month or season - until they can either go back to college or if there is a less stressful job.
“But there is an absolute crisis because it’s not only shattering on your body but it’s also shattering on your mental health.
“You know, you can go to the doctor and get a broken arm fixed or get your finger sewn back on if you accidentally chop it off, but at present there just isn’t the support for people there who are at their mental breaking point after years of degradation and after years of an unhealthy industry standard.”
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