Inspectors must prosecute firms that exploit migrant labour

THE number of government labour inspectors has declined by over 20% over the last two years, increasing fears that migrant workers could face increased exploitation.

There are currently 71 National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) Labour inspectors in place to police employment law in a workforce of over 2.25 million. This is 19 below the 90 agreed as necessary in 2007 under the Towards 2016 agreement between unions and government.

Labour Affairs Minster Dara Calleary has explained the shortfall by stating that 18 inspectors have left NERA over the past two years as a result of promotion, transfers and re-assignments.

These cannot be replaced, because of the moratorium on recruitment and promotion in the public service.

The decrease in inspectors is of concern to Fine Gael integration spokesman Denis Naughten. “If employers exploit migrant labour as a means to cut costs at the expense of Irish workers then there is the potential for a racist backlash as unemployment levels continue to increase . . . The only way that this can be effectively eradicated is by ensuring that the employment inspectorate takes aggressive action by prosecuting the directors of companies that exploit migrant labour in order to undercut Irish jobs.”

The Dáil is still to pass the legalisation which will fully empower NERA inspectors – the Employment Law Compliance Bill is meeting strong opposition from TDs complaining that the inspect regime is too stringent on businesses.

However, statistics point to migrant workers bearing the burnt of the recession. Although they represent 15% of the workforce, over 20% of the Live Register are migrant workers.

Migrant Rights Centre Ireland deputy director Bill Abom is seeing greater numbers of workers contacting his agency due to problems with redundancy or unfair selection for dismissal, but has noticed no discernible increase in complaints. “This is possibly because, without options for work, people tend to keep their head down and accept conditions they would not have previously.”

Exploitation is often at its worse in the domestic work sector which is not open to inspection. One Filipino child minder reported a monthly payment of €100 for 24 hour-a-day care of two children.

Migrant worker exploitation hit the headlines in early 2005 when the current socialist Party MEP, Joe Higgins, led the way in uncovering the gross underpayment and exploitive working conditions endured by employees of Turkish building firm GAMA in Ireland.

He said: “I have a concern about the pressure that all workers, either migrant or native, are being put under in the name of the present crisis.”

“The recession is being used to put pressure downward on wages, whether to maintain them or increase them. The question is whether this downward pressure on wages creates even better conditions for certain unscrupulous employers to further exploit migrants and intensify the race to the bottom. There is clearly little interest by government to prevent this: you have the example of GAMA, where Mary Harney went to Turkey to encourage them to come here.”