Restaurants pay migrants as little as €2 per hour, survey finds

THE Migrants Rights Centre of Ireland (MRCI) has claimed foreign- national restaurant workers are being paid as little as €2 per hour while working up to 75 hours of week.

From July 2007 to July 2008, MRCI carried out 115 one-hour surveys with migrant workers employed in restaurants in Ireland. Of those workers, 67% had work permits, 14% were undocumented, 7% were EU nationals, 5% had student visas and 5% were stamp 4 residents (entitled to work without a permit).

The results of that survey found:

* 53% earned less than the minimum hourly wage.

* 43% worked in excess of the legal limit of 48 hours per week.

* 44% did not get rest breaks.

* 85% did not receive overtime pay or extra pay for Sunday work.

* 84% did not receive a contract or terms of employment.

MRCI pointed out that the number of non-Irish nationals employed in the sector has more than doubled from 22,700 in 2004 to 47,200 in 2008 and, of those, 53% were from the new accession states and 33% are from outside of the EU.

It said it had come across cases where workers were being paid €2 per hour, labouring in excess of 75-hour weeks, working without any overtime provisions or rest breaks, suffering threats of deportation or harm to their families in their home country if they complain.

“Recently, after inspecting over 850 catering businesses, the National Employment Rights Authority found that 76% were in breach of employment legislation which included the failure to pay minimum wage, overtime, Sunday premium, public holidays, and annual leave,” said Bill Abom of MRCI.

MRCI gave the example of Jamal from Bangladesh. He came to Ireland in November 2002 to work as a full-time chef in Co Wicklow.

“I came to Ireland because I wanted to build a better life and earn money to support my wife and family,” said Jamal. “I paid €5,000 to my boss to come to work here. He told me I could earn good money in Ireland, about €300 per week. But when I first started in 2002, my salary was €50 per week without any accommodation.

“I did not receive any contract of employment. He never gave me the original work permit. My boss made me work 72 hours per week... I did not have any day off. He would pay me in cash. I never received a pay slip or a P60. He would also make fake business reports to save money from being taxed.”

Jamal said he complained several times about his pay but his boss threatened to cancel his work permit. “I worked there for nearly five years. The boss gave me an increase of €25 in my weekly salary every year. In 2007, I was paid €175 per week for 72 hours of work, which is less than €2.50 per hour.”