€2.50 an hour pay claims under investigation

LABOUR inspectors yesterday launched an investigation into claims that at least 19 South Africans employed to fit Bus Éireann school vehicles with seat belts were paid just €120 a week.

Sinn Féin’s workers’ rights spokesman Arthur Morgan said he was contacted last week by staff members working around the country on the State funded project.

Mr Morgan said he had seen contracts and pay slips provided by workers which indicated payment in the region of €2.50 an hour.

“In my view, this is a clear case of worker exploitation. I have bank statements from some of the workers which show they were paid in the order of €120 a week,” he said.

The workers are employed in Dublin, Cork, Donegal, Rosslare and Athlone, and were hired by South African company Marble Gold, also known by its trade name PROSEAT.

The company is subcontracted by Irish firm Transport Component Distributors (TCD), which won the Bus Éireann contract to retro-fit the school buses with seatbelts.

Inspectors from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment began its probe into the allegations yesterday afternoon. Mr Morgan said that all three companies would need to be investigated.

He also claimed workers had not seen copies of their work permits and that some had not been issued with wage slips or PPS numbers.

Marble Gold said when other factors such as travel and accommodation costs and subsistence allowances were factored in, the wages paid to the workers was around €8.74 an hour — more than the minimum wage of €7.65. Workers are also said to receive €20 a day for food.

But Mr Morgan said: “I understand that accommodation costs can be factored in under the minimum wage but that travel cannot.”

He called for workers to be retrospectively paid any monies owed to them and for the Labour Inspectorate to be increased to 90 staff immediately.

Mr Morgan said workers “are concerned that they may lose their jobs and their bonuses”.

Managing director at TCD, Harry Nash, said his company had “nothing to hide”. He said he was satisfied that South African workers were paid in excess of the minimum wage.

Mr Nash disagreed with Mr Morgan’s claim that workers received just €2.50 per hour in take-home pay. He claimed the actual figure was closer to a minimum of €3.75 per hour, particularly as the pay rate had been increased by 20% in May due to the falling value of the Rand versus the euro.

Almost 700 school buses are to be fitted with seatbelts by September 1.

Bus Éireann said: “Should it emerge that there has been a breach of contract in respect of any of these issues, Bus Éireann will immediately instigate a process to rescind the contract.”