Siptu said today it had taken up the case of a Filipino woman who lost her job aboard an Irish Ferries ship when her wages were queried by a journalist.
Salvacion Orge had just started working as a beauty therapist on the Isle of Inishmore. However, the company said it was discontinuing the service when details of her contract were discovered, following a question on the matter from RTÉ.
Ms Orge was hired by a recruitment agency and was being paid just over €350 a month. She was expected to work 12 hours a day, seven days week, with just three days off a month.
Siptu branch Secretary Paul Smyth said: "When we made representations to Irish Ferries' management, they tried to distance themselves from the hiring agency instead of doing the decent thing and renegotiating her contract and paying her proper wages.
"Ultimately they proposed scrapping her contract and told her to get her off the ship. The payment of this kind of slave wage is exactly what we predicted would happen if Irish got their way on outsourcing.
"This woman is now a member of Siptu and it is our intention to pursue her case through all the means at our disposal," he said.
It is understood Ms Orge has remained on the ship, which left Rosslare for Pembroke this morning.
Although he would not comment on the Irish Ferries case in particular, the Taoiseach Mr Ahern said "people who work in this country are entitled to the same protections as everyone else. Anyone who is breaching that is breaking the law".
Labour TD Brendan Howlin said the case "highlights the amount of ongoing evasion from Irish companies in complying with legal obligations towards migrant workers.
"The revelation that Irish Ferries would seek to contract a Filipino worker at a fraction of the acceptable rate of pay underscores, yet again, the need for the most stringent enforcement of working terms and conditions for migrant workers in Ireland," he said.