Workers call for Gama report

HUNDREDS of Turkish workers will protest outside the High Court this morning to call for the publication of a labour inspectors’ report into alleged exploitation of employees by construction company Gama.

The company obtained a temporary injunction preventing publication of the report earlier this month, and the High Court will decide today whether to lift that order or submit the issue for a full judicial review.

“If Gama management do not have anything to hide, why are they blocking publication with injunction?” the workers asked in a weekend statement.

A spokeswoman for the company said it was not commenting ahead of this morning’s hearing.

Should the injunction be lifted, the report - which was ordered by Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin after Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins claimed in the Dáil that migrant workers were being paid as little as €2 an hour by Gama - could be published later today.

Mr Martin last week told the Seanad that his department would be arguing “robustly” for the injunction to be lifted.

The company is facing further investigations by the gardaí, the Revenue Commissioners and other regulatory bodies on foot of the report.

Meanwhile, about 660 Gama workers are to be refunded approximately €20 million in unpaid wages by the company. The money was resting in accounts in the Netherlands discovered by Mr Higgins. The workers claimed they were never made aware of the accounts in Finansbank, although Gama denies not having informed them.

The workers have applied to Finansbank for full account statements and expect to receive these today. They will then inform Finansbank where to transfer their funds.

In total, up to €40m in workers’ money is thought to be held in as many as 2,000 accounts belonging to past and present Gama workers.

In addition to this morning’s protest, workers will also demonstrate at the opening on Thursday of the ESB’s new power station at Lanesboro, Co Longford, which the company helped to build.

“A letter is being sent to the ESB asking that after the protest, workers should be invited to the opening reception, given that the power station was built on their exploited labour and intense personal hardship working 80 hours a week,” the workers’ statement said.