TEEU calls for report on ESB-Energo working conditions

The Labour Inspectorate is being urged to report on the working conditions of up to 200 Serb men who were paid less than half the minimum wage by an ESB sub-contractor.

Trade unions have claimed that the men are owed up to €40,000 each in arrears from the Serbian firm Energo, who were hired by Irish contractors Laing O'Rourke.

The men have been working on the €3bn ESB networks programme across the north-midlands since 2004.

Eamon Devoy from the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union said today that it was looking like another Gama situation: “The blame for this lies at all sorts of levels: it starts at government level, it goes down to the level of the ESB, who allocated a €3bn contract and didn’t ensure that the people they were employing were prepared to comply with normal industrial relations standards in Ireland.

“And it rests with Laing O’Rourke as the main contractor for not ensuring that the main sub-contractor was goint to comply with the terms and conditions of employment in Ireland."