Turkish firm admits underpaying workers

The stakes could hardly be higher for the Turkish construction company which yesterday admitted it had underpaid hundreds of workers last year, writes Chris Dooley

Having lost the first round of its public relations battle with Socialist TD Joe Higgins, the company's future in Ireland is now on the line.

The sequence of events leading to yesterday's remarkable disclosure began with an attack on the company by Mr Higgins in the Dáil last month.

He accused Gama then of operating a modern version of bonded labour and being engaged in "immigrant worker exploitation of massive proportions".

"This company imports workers who do not speak English from their home base, controls their passports and work permits, accommodates them often in company barracks, demands grotesque working hours and, incredibly, pays unskilled construction workers between €2 and €3 an hour, and skilled something over €3 an hour," he claimed.

The allegations were immediately dismissed as "malicious" by the company, which has about 1,200 employees in Ireland, two-thirds of them Turkish.

As a result of Mr Higgins's claims, however, and a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment investigation which began on foot of them, the company decided to bring forward an internal review of its pay procedures.

It says that on Friday of last week it informed the department's labour inspectorate that this review had uncovered some "potential problems".

It subsequently provided details to the inspectorate on Thursday evening, in advance of a "full disclosure" by letter yesterday morning.

This comprised an admission that most, but not all, of its Turkish workers had received an average of 8 per cent less than the legal minimum rate, known as a registered employment agreement (REA), for the construction industry last year.

According to a company spokesman, the underpayments ranged from €50 in total for some workers to a maximum of €3,500.

The amounts due, as well as an additional 5.5 per cent payment, had immediately been "made good" to all of those affected.

Minister for Employment Micheál Martin noted the admission "with concern" and also revealed that he had stopped the issuing of work permits to Gama until his department's investigation was complete.

Not surprisingly, Mr Higgins claimed yesterday the revelations were "only the beginning of the vindication" of what he had said in the Dáil. However, while he is entitled to be pleased, there is still a long way to go before his allegations concerning payments of €2 to €3 an hour are proved.

Instead, the company's stance amounts to an admission that workers who should have been receiving €12.96 an hour under the REA were instead getting, perhaps, €12.

Richard Grogan, its solicitor, readily accepted yesterday that, should the reality turn out to be different, Gama's stay in Ireland could be short-lived. "The company was advised by me that it had one opportunity, and one only, to give a full and complete disclosure, and that failure to do so at this stage would put the future of the company in Ireland at serious risk," he said.

"Management were fully aware of my advice and informed that a full and complete disclosure was being made to the department."

Much will now depend on the outcome of the investigation being conducted by the department's labour inspectors.

Gama has been in Ireland since 2000. Its major projects have included the Huntstown and Tynagh Energy power stations.