LRC steps in on month-long Gama dispute

THE month-long dispute between multi-national construction firm Gama and hundreds of employees entered a crucial phase yesterday with the intervention of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).

It is the first time the State's labour relations machinery has become involved in the unprecedented dispute, which began four weeks ago.

While the discovery of accounts in Holland belonging to workers galvanised them into protesting en masse, the current disagreement centres around claims workers were not paid for up to 40 hours in overtime each week going back several years.

In what the LRC described as exploratory talks, representatives of striking workers, SIPTU officials and Gama management, met separately with LRC chief executive Kieran Mulvey and deputy director of conciliation Kevin Foley in Dublin yesterday.

There were no direct talks between both sides. The move the first breakthrough in the month-long dispute ensued after both sides accepted an LRC invitation to talks last week prompted by the intervention of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

However, with workers continuing to picket several Gama construction sites, the gulf between both sides remains cavernous and cannot be bridged without the company conceding some ground on overtime payments owed to workers.

Likewise, striking workers, many of whom have now refused to work for four weeks, will also be expected to compromise if talks are to prove successful.

Any agreement will also have to address the removal by Gama of 230 workers from its payroll and a company request that striking workers leave Gama accommodation by this Friday.

While food had been cut off by Gama, supplies resumed late last week after the Taoiseach intervened.

Deputy Higgins, who has championed the issue from the beginning, yesterday repeated calls for the Government to appoint assessors to calculate how much is owed to workers.

A judicial review into Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin's decision to order a report into allegations of wage fraud at Gama begins in the High Court today.

Gama last month successfully sought an injunction preventing publication of the Labour Inspectorate report pending the outcome of the judicial review.

However, the Government was allowed to forward the report to the Garda fraud squad, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the Revenue Commissioners and other Government departments.