Unions to act on migrants' rights

Trade union leaders yesterday vowed to place the rights of migrant workers at the top of the agenda in talks on a new partnership deal, likely to take place this autumn.

The issue dominated the opening day of the biennial conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Belfast, at which both the Irish and British governments were urged to take more action to protect migrant workers from abuse.

Delegates heard details of new cases of alleged exploitation in the Republic, including one involving Polish workers who said they were sacked after drawing to their employer's attention that they were paying no tax or PRSI.

Siptu official Mike Jennings said the employer concerned had felt so sure of avoiding inspection or prosecution that he had issued the workers with written contracts requiring them to work 60 hours a week for a flat rate of €7 an hour.

"We had workers from the Czech Republic who were given no wages at all for three weeks and when they came to the union and complained, they were given cheques drawn on a different company which bounced immediately."

Another Siptu delegate, Anton McCabe, said he was contacted by a man whom a farmer had described as his "Ukrainian slave" in a conversation overheard in a pub in rural Ireland. "His problems were the usual ones. He was working 65 hours a week for €110. He had no holiday pay and was paying €50 rent to the farmer for a room in his house." Mr McCabe also claimed some employers were abusing legislation which allows them to pay below the minimum wage for staff who are in training.

In one case, a Lithuanian man employed to walk greyhounds and clean out their houses was receiving €5 an hour after 11 months in the job. The minimum wage was recently increased from €7 an hour to €7.65.

When the employer was confronted, he claimed the man had "not yet perfected the art of walking the dogs".

Mr Jennings said the Gama Construction controversy should not mislead people into thinking foreign employers were more likely to be guilty of exploitation than Irish ones. In most cases the culprits were the "same gombeen class" among Irish employers who had always exploited vulnerable workers.

TEEU general secretary Owen Wills said the issue had to be given the "highest priority" in any future partnership talks with the Government and employers. The talks should not take place without prior resolution of issues such as the need for work permit reforms and a better-resourced labour inspectorate.

Paddy O'Shaughnessy, leader of the building workers' union BATU, also called for the issue to be a priority in any talks on a successor to Sustaining Progress.

Ictu general secretary David Begg said non-national workers were an increasingly important component of the labour market. Key sectors of the economy such as healthcare, hospitality and horticulture could not function without them.

Mr Begg said there had to be a realisation that when people came to live in Ireland they were going to mix with the indigenous population and form relationships.

The time was right for an "innovative and humane gesture" towards asylum seekers who had lived amongst us "as decent neighbours" for several years. "It is not humane to leave people in uncertainty for years and to pounce on them out of the blue to deport them," he said, to applause.

Delegates passed motions calling for the establishment of an ombudsman or commissioner for migrant workers and condemning exploitation.