Union sends fact-finding mission to Poland

UNION officials who exposed widespread immigrant abuses last week were in Poland yesterday on a fact-finding mission.

Members of OPATSI, the plasterers’ union of Ireland, held high-level talks with government ministers and senior Polish union officials.

Spokesman Billy Curtin said last night that the delegation was keen to examine the standards of Polish apprenticeships, assess the work standards, and learn about pay and conditions.

“We have learned a lot,” Mr Curtin said last night. “We met with some contractors and visited two or three big construction sites in Poland. The standards on the sites are poor, the safety is poor, but the workmanship is good.”

Mr Curtin, who is secretary of the Cork branch of the plasterers union and secretary of the Cork Building Group (CBG), an umbrella organisation for unions in Cork, said his delegation expected to produce a full report on their visit next week and distribute it to other Irish unions.

Thousands of Poles arrive in Ireland every year looking for work. Cork has one of the biggest Polish communities in the country with an estimated 20,000 Poles living in the city.

Mr Curtin said the Cork branch of the plasterers union had received dozens of complaints from Polish construction workers about wage abuse. Last week, the CBG presented a cross-party delegation of politicians with wage slips proving the wage abuse of immigrant workers is widespread.

The documents showed that in some cases, foreign workers were earning less than half the agreed industry rates.

Fianna Fáil TD Noel O’Flynn, who met with the CBG, said yesterday that he has called on the Government to mount a publicity campaign to tackle abuse.

He has asked Junior Minister for Labour Affairs in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Tony Killeen to place advertisements in English and various Eastern European languages on national and local media advising construction workers of the agreed rates of pay.

“Those who are not being paid the agreed rates should contact the Department of Labour who will take up their case against contractors who underpay EU nationals which could lead to prosecutions, as well as naming the culprits,” he said.

Mr Curtin welcomed Mr O’Flynn’s efforts.

Mr O’Flynn said he was also seriously concerned about immigrant workers working up to 80 hours a week, and the impact that could have on site and building safety standards.

“It is down to greed on the part of many employers and will only lead to greater polarisation between immigrants and native Irish workers which in the long run will contribute to social unrest,” he said.