More than half of immigrants working in Irish restaurants earn less than the minimum wage, according to a new report.
A further 43 per cent work more than the legal limit of 48 hours per week, while some 85 per cent do not receive overtime rates or extra pay for Sunday work.
The survey of migrant workers, published today by the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland (MRCI), found that 53 per cent of those with jobs in the restaurant sector earned less than the minimum wage, while some 44 per cent did not get rest breaks.
Suggesting there was a widespread "culture of exploitation" in the restaurant industry, the organisation documented cases of migrants being paid €2 per hour, working in excess of 75-hour weeks and suffering threats of deportation or harm to their families if they complained about their treatment.
"These results are shocking," said Bill Abom, co-ordinator of the centre's restaurant workers action group. "There are serious problems in how migrant workers are treated in the Irish restaurant industry."
He said the research tallied with the findings of the National Employment Rights Authority, which recently reported that 76 per cent of 850 restaurants it inspected were in breach of employment laws.
The MRCI study found very low rates of unionisation among restaurant workers, with 88 per cent having never been in contact with a trade union, although a similar proportion – 86 per cent – believed exploitation and unfair treatment of restaurant workers was widespread.
Mr Abom remarked that while a successful restaurant industry was important for Ireland, "that success must not be built on the back of exploited workers".
Urging the Government to tighten the law to protect migrant workers from exploitation, he said labour inspectors should be given the power to give employers on-the-spot fines for breaches of employment law.
The work permit system must also be changed so that non-EU citizens were no longer tied to one employer, he said. This could be done by issuing a permit to individuals for certain job categories, enabling them to move between employers without having to make a new application and pay a fee each time they changed jobs.
Of 115 migrants surveyed, the largest group (18 per cent) was Bangladeshi, while 17 per cent were Indian, 15 per cent Chinese and 11 per cent Pakistani. Some two thirds were work permit-holders, 14 per cent were undocumented and 7 per cent were EU citizens.