Cassells says racism is manifest on our streets

Racism and xenophobia could jeopardise our economic prosperity, the General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Peter Cassells, told a weekend conference on immigration.

"The ugly monster of racism, which has been lurking in the shadows of Irish society, has become manifest on our streets in recent months," he said. Mr Cassells urged those in power to show leadership on the issue of racism but said "leadership has to be underpinned by action.

"The ICTU is strongly of the view that asylum-seekers and refugees coming to Ireland should be allowed to work. Given the ridiculous system we've been putting people through, creating backlogs of applications, creating a whole environment in which they have to go underground, an amnesty should now be declared to allow people who are already here to work," he said.

Mr Cassells said there was a grave danger that "we will welcome everybody in, but only to do all the jobs Irish people no longer want to do".

He said it would send a very clear signal to Irish workers if unions "were to say that anyone found guilty of racism or xenophobia in the workplace would be immediately expelled from the union".

The president of ICTU, Ms Inez McCormack, said there was a need "to ensure people feel welcome in the workplace, not merely tolerated".

Ms McCormack said there was a "relaxed racism expressed in policy and practice". To overcome this, she said a culture of rights must be developed.

Ms McCormack said that those who need change "must be involved as equals and have a sense of ownership of any process rather than being the object of the process".

The general president of SIPTU, Mr Des Geraghty, said that to facilitate dialogue in the workplace, the barriers to inclusion need to be removed. This included addressing language difficulties and establishing translation services for workers and ensuring that health and safety notices were written in their language.

SIPTU, he said, now represented over 2,000 non-nationals, "and envisages this figure growing considerably in the weeks and months ahead". Mr Geraghty also advocated making access to the workforce easier for immigrants and said work permits should be issued after six months' residence in Ireland.

"The right to work should be seen as a fundamental human right, irrespective of race, creed or nationality." Racism, he said, was often used to divert people from the real causes of poverty, and he urged trade unionists "as people who aspire to a more egalitarian world" to confront racism in the workplace "in all its manifestations".