Migrant workers exploited by ‘crooked’ employment agencies

SIPTU president Jack O’Connor has claimed there are 520 licensed employment agencies operating in Ireland and an unknown number based offshore supplying the country’s labour market.

According to Industrial Relations News the SIPTU president told the annual general meeting of the union’s Bantry branch that the Central Statistics Office must start recording data on the workers so that any exploitation by the agencies can be tracked.

He said employment standards are being undermined through the re-casualisation of labour, as jobs are outsourced to employment agencies and bogus self-employment schemes.

“This process is facilitated by an inexhaustible supply of vulnerable migrant workers, who are available for exploitation,” he said. “We did not oppose the Government’s decision to open our borders to the 10 new EU accession states in 2004 but we were then and we remain today unequivocal in our view that this must be accompanied by significantly improved employment rights and a rigorous enforcement regime.”

He said migrant workers are exposed to exploitation by crooked employment agencies, operating on the fringes of the law.

“These agencies exploit the vulnerability that comes with language barriers and ignorance of Irish employment rights. Unscrupulous employers take advantage of loopholes in the existing legislation to funnel cheap labour into our workplaces and prevent workers from acquiring employment rights.

“While there are many reputable employment agencies, there is a growing proliferation of rogue agents that find their niche as suppliers of cheap, expendable labour. They are little better than the slave traders of yesteryear.”

He said the concern about so many licensed agencies operating here is that as the Central Statistics Office does not gather information on agency workers, it is not known the rate at which the trend is increasing or the terms and conditions under which people are employed.

“However the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions has identified Ireland as ‘the country with the highest percentage of those employed with a temporary agency employment contract in the EU,” he said.

“Why then does the CSO not produce specific information on agency workers? Could it be that it would belie the picture of a thriving economy where all is well?”