Building workers place picket over pensions

Construction workers are picketing the Department of Justice in Dublin today in protest at what they say is the failure of employers to hand over millions of euros in mandatory pension contributions.

SIPTU estimates that up to 60 per cent of employers are not fully compliant with the Construction Federation Operatives Pension Scheme (CFOPS), under which employers must submit a weekly payment of €13.65 on behalf of each employee.

The union says there is widespread fraud and non-compliance throughout the industry and as many as 50,000 construction workers are not registered by their employers.

SIPTU is calling for a tougher enforcement of the laws on the issue, which allows for fines of up to €12,500 and two years in jail.

SIPTU's Dublin construction branch secretary, Mr Eric Flemming, told ireland.comthat unless this fraud was stopped the union would name and shame non-compliant building sites.

Mr Flemming said the situation was "totally intolerable", pledging his union would take action against offending employers.

"It is unacceptable that this level of non-compliance be allowed to freely continue. Families of building workers are the real victims of this pension robbery," he said.

Mr Flemming said today's two-hour protest was about demanding justice for building workers and calling for action - including jail sentences - to put an end to the widespread robbery of pension contributions.

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has said that its members are complying with the pensions rules and that it will take action against those that are not.