Builders for council may not have had entitlements
The process was launched following claims that some subcontractors who have worked on the city’s major regeneration projects may not have been signed up to the industry’s Registered Employment Agreement (REA) during their contract period.
Dozens of workers, many of them migrants, could have been exposed if the companies weren’t part of the scheme.
The REA lays down standard rates of pay and contributions that employers must pay for construction workers.
If an employer isn’t part of the scheme, workers may not be able to claim sick pay or a pension. And if a worker is killed on the job, his family aren’t entitled to death-in-service benefit.
City manager Joe Gavin said the council requires its contractors and sub-contractors to show evidence of membership of a pension and sick pay scheme before they can begin work on council schemes.
But three months after the issue was raised, the council has so far failed to provide documents to prove all its subcontractors are part of the scheme.
Socialist Party Cllr Mick Barry, whose party leader helped expose the construction firm Gama’s treatment of its workers, accused the council of dragging its feet.
“I was approached by unionised brick layers who felt that questions needed to be asked,” he said last night.
He tabled his first question almost three months ago.
City manager Joe Gavin confirmed in early May that Dockhill Construction, who worked on various paving schemes, signed up to the REA.
The Construction Federation Operatives Pension Scheme, the industry’s pension watchdog, confirmed the company had written a cheque for E7,228.98 to cover pension payments for the first 17 weeks of 2005.
The council produced this evidence in the 17th week of this year, Cllr Barry said.
“Questions arise as to whether this is a retrospective payment. Were workers covered for the first 17 weeks?” he asked.
Dockhill’s managing director Pat Dockry said the company was fully compliant with all Construction Industry Federation regulations. He said the company was paying its pension contribution of E36.70 per person per week.
The company employs many foreign workers, mostly Polish, who are all on the same rate, he said.
