Relaxation of Restrictions, Part XII *Read OP For Mod Warnings*

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117882724#Comment_117882724

I'd cancel that membership, they're supposed to allow you to use the showers and lockers since July

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117882880#Comment_117882880

Probably more to do with the piss-poor wages and auful working hours on offer in these places, very little to do with covid

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117882560#Comment_117882560

From that article

Mr Johnson is likely to repeal Coronavirus Act powers in England that are deemed no longer necessary, including:

• Powers to close down the economy

• Powers to impose restrictions on events and gatherings

• Powers to temporarily close or restrict access to schools

• Powers to detain infectious people.

So he's repealing an act that went from parliamentary introduction to royal ascent in 6 days. At least if he wants to introduce these laws again he can do so in under a week

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883638#Comment_117883638

It's all about the soundbites.

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883638#Comment_117883638

So he's repealing an act rather than leave it in place - yet you have to nitpick and look for the negative side. I'm surprised you havent been crushed under that enormous chip on your shoulder.

Regardless of how easy it may be to reinstate such a law (it would be considerably harder to bring in at this stage of pandemic), is it not better that its repealed than left in place indefinitely?

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883676#Comment_117883676

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883753#Comment_117883753

As astrofool correctly points out it's all just Boris trying to look like he's successfully brought the country out of the pandemic. This is an act that was due to expire naturally in March 2022 anyway, none of the powers in the act are in current use (was the power to detain infectious people ever used?) so keeping the act would make no material difference to day-to-day life in England

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883788#Comment_117883788

In the past those powers were used to restrict the economy, restrict access to events, restrict access to schools - the fact that these powers have been removed early is a good sign. It gives more certainty about the lockdowns (or lack thereof) coming this winter. You really are trying your hardest to wave this away as nothing lol

charlie14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883571#Comment_117883571

Agreed. Beginning of August 47,640 claiming the PUP were from the accommodation and food service sector while the sector was crying out for workers. That to me at least gives lie to the attempted narrative from some that the hospitality sector is not doing well due to the few remaining restrictions.

Make me wonder just how many others are on the PUP because of piss-poor wages and working conditions rather than Covid restrictions.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883861#Comment_117883861

Because it is nothing... Rolling back legislation, not being enforced at the minute, that took less than a week to introduce, really is very little

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883917#Comment_117883917

The PUP can be drawn by part-timers, meaning a return to work is literally a pay cut for most of these people... Nothing to do with restrictions in my opinion

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883917#Comment_117883917

Plenty of restaurants cannot open at full capacity due to covid restrictions - less covers means less money, which means less pay or less staff in many businesses.

There are of course plenty of people who took the time to reskill instead - they wont be coming back. This is a long term impact of the restrictions which cant easily be undone also.

charlie14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883676#Comment_117883676

They got him the job as P.M. so par for the course with Johnston.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884031#Comment_117884031

Most restaurants are utilising outdoor areas, so covers are not down by a whole lot, VAT is reduced again from 13.5% to 9%, yet prices are definitely higher, and they all get restart grants from Failte Ireland to keep them competitive

So unless they're paying their waiters and chefs €20/hour I'd say they're not doing too bad

charlie14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884031#Comment_117884031

Not according to Adrian Cummins chief of the Restaurants Association of Ireland. His complaint is lack of staff which is the problem for his members not restrictions. If a sector is complaining about lack of staff being the problem then the sector is not doing as badly as some would like us to believe. I never got the impression that restaurant owners were of that much of a charitable nature they paid staff just to hang around doing nothing.

If people took the time to reskill I don`t see how that can be blamed on restrictions. It`s because of the poor pay and working conditions and would make me wonder just how many more who are on the PUP are on it for the same reasons. With the hospitality sector crying out for workers, it`s not restrictions that are preventing workers getting employment in the sector.

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884320#Comment_117884320

Lack of staff is a separate issue - the hope is that the RAI can put pressure on government to allow more "language students" from south america into the country to work low paid jobs, back of house mostly. They work for the cheapest, so when margins are down (due to capacity restrictions) you need to scrimp and save everywhere you can.

There arent hundreds of chefs and kitchen porters hanging around on the PUP though

Billgirlylegs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883917#Comment_117883917

I suspect that a good number of remaining PUP are dodgy to fraudulent. Once your place of employment is no longer closed, do you have discretion about whether or not you continue to receive PUP?

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883944#Comment_117883944

They'll have another pay cut when the tax clawback starts to kick in!

charlie14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884445#Comment_117884445

I`m not sure on the discretion, but like yourself I have a feeling quite a few of those PUP claims may be dodgy with some claiming it while working for cash in hand. The wages in the hospitality sector may not be great, as another poster said they are often piss poor, but even so difficult to see the PUP being greater.

charlie14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884381#Comment_117884381

I do not see how lack of staff is a separate issue to the narrative attempted by some that the hospitality sector is being badly hit by the present restrictions. If they are crying out for staff then it`s not to provide charitable employment. It`s because the demand is there and they are having problems coping with that demand. Not exactly an indicator that the sector is doing as badly as some would like us to believe now is it. If anything the contrary.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884320#Comment_117884320

Restrictions didn't help, if the pub you were working in suddenly had to close and you found yourself on your rear end, at the same time the supermarket needed staff. I'm not saying we shouldn't have had restrictions but our big reopening plan should have accounted for all of this

charlie14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884582#Comment_117884582

I don`t see how you can plan reopening to ensure people go back to the jobs they were employed in other than providing grants for those businesses reopening, which the government did. I don`t see how it is possible in any significant numbers that the shortage of staff could be due to those moving to other jobs at the height of restrictions either.

The hospitality sector is crying out for workers, so they are not doing badly, so it looks as if that shortage is due to poor wages and working conditions and little or nothing to do with the present restrictions. The PUP would not be luxury living so it would make me question just how many others are still on PUP for the same reasons (or even still claiming while receiving cash in hand) rather than having anything to do with restrictions.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884685#Comment_117884685

Poor wages and working conditions was always an issue in the hospitality sector though... The restrictions gave a lot of them the opportunity to search for a new job knowing that if they didn't last in said job there was always the PUP to fall back on and then the Pandemic generally sent a lot of the foreign workers back home. You also have to take into account the rising cost of living here, helped by the closure of our building sector, so the restrictions are to blame somewhat

quazzy1

You also have to take into account that there are still thousands of musicians, entertainers, DJs, tour guides etc. that are not fully back working yet. They might be technically allowed to work now, but there are still quite a few restrictions that limit the amount of opportunities there are for work. It also takes time also to build back up to doing 4 or 5 nights a week in these industries, it's not just a case of flipping a switch and going back to full time work. Some might be only 1 day a week at best, so they'd still be entitled to stay on the PUP until theyre back working consistently.

I'm sure there are others though that are taking advantage and earning cash in hand etc. but you cant assume that everyone doesnt want to work. Many of us cant wait to get back to working full time!

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884892#Comment_117884892

For sure. Wedding singers to use another example, going back to work this month aren't going to be raking in the cash, many of them would need the PUP until at least March or April

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885155#Comment_117885155

Is wedding singing a job or a weekend cash in hand jobby?

quazzy1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885226#Comment_117885226

There are thousands of professional musicians in this country that work full time. Some of them work exclusively at weddings, but many would have other side gigs either teaching or playing in pubs etc. Outside of weddings, Pubs/Bars/Hotels are only allowed have 60% capacity at the moment so very few have live music currently unless they have large outdoor areas.

Lots of musicians do work for cash in hand and only do it as a side job, but there are also plenty that are fully legitimate businesses and would turnover quite a good bit and pay tax accordingly. The ones who weren't declaring their income would only have been entitlted to the lowest level of PUP anyway so it's not likely that too many of them would be happy to stay at home on €203. A lot of those who are still on PUP are the ones who were working 5 days a week and are just waiting until it's possible to do this again. You're currently allowed earn upto €480 per month while staying on PUP, so this means you can work 1 or 2 days a week without it affecting your payment (obviously depending on how much you earn per job). As soon as most are able to work more consistently you'd imagine most will be signing off the PUP, but I'm sure there will still be a few chancers too. Hopefully in a month or two there'll be very few left needing the Covid payment.

bucketybuck

You won't know the full picture in hospitality until they are allowed to operate their business without restrictions.

Imagine a case study where you tell a business that they have to limit their opening hours, limit the number of customers, and also pay higher wages to the staff they cannot get... Simple logic says that is a recipe for business failure.

I suspect a lot of these businesses are going to hit the wall shortly but this needs to play out and it doesn't help a single person to keep dragging it out month after month in the horseshit abundance of caution. Remove the PUP, remove the restrictions and lets see where our economy really is.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885489#Comment_117885489

Most professional industries have to keep their wages somewhat attractive to ensure their staff don't up and leave. Why should the hospitality industry be any different? Sure we will have far fewer pubs and restaurants in our country but the ones that remain will be more viable

I can't see the restrictions and the PUP's removal making any change to the staffing crisis but I do agree we won't know for sure until it's removed

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885534#Comment_117885534

Because hospitality is highly reliant on tourism monies - and as such, they need to be competitive pricewise against other countries too.

We already have a hugely expensive hospitality sector (and hugely expensive cost of living in general) - there simply isnt any appetite for increased prices.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885580#Comment_117885580

Our hospitality prices are competitive? News to me

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885648#Comment_117885648

Theyre already not competitive with much of europe, they cant go any higher is the point.

Even wealthy americans will eventually go somewhere cheaper if it keeps getting more expensive to holiday here