Gama reaction: Turkish workers treated like ‘slaves’, says solicitor

The group of Turkish workers who have won the right to take a case against Gama Construction in the Irish courts were treated like "slaves", according to their solicitor.

The Court of Appeal on Friday ruled that 491 former Gama employees are entitled to take a suit against the organisation for alleged breach of contract and damages related to poor working conditions, a decision which the workers’ counsel believes will act as a deterrent for potentially exploitative companies.

"The significance of [this] verdict is that anyone arriving in Ireland with a cohort of slaves and is bent on treating them badly is going to have to face justice in the Irish courts," said Donal Taaffe.

The workers say they are owed a cumulative sum of €40.3 million as part of a dispute going back over a decade.

'Passports taken'

Gama Endüstri Tesisleri Imalat Montaj AS (Gama Turkey) and Gama Construction Ireland Ltd began work on National Development Programme infrastructural projects in 2000, and employed more than 1,000 workers from Turkey to help build Irish motorways.

“These Turkish workers are the absolute salt of the earth. They left their homes and wives and children behind, like so many thousands of Irish people have had to do for hundreds of years, to come to our country and work on our motorways; our motorways paid for by our people,” said Mr Taaffe.

“When they arrived they had their passports taken from them by Gama, they had to work 80-hour weeks including working outdoors in the rain, they had their wages stolen from them by their employer, and when they objected Gama tried to starve them into submission.”