AN estimated 15,000 Irish building workers could be affected by a draft law agreed by a German parliamentary committee setting a minimum wage for foreign building workers.
The measure, which promises tough fines for companies paying below the statutory rate, follows pressure from trade unions in the light of rising unemployment among German building workers.
The Bonn government estimates that 200,000 foreigners are currently working on German building sites, most of whom are paid a fraction of the standard wage for German workers.
The measure has yet to be approved by the Bundestag and it may run into trouble in Brussels, where the EU is divided over a German proposal to grant all workers the same rights and conditions, regardless of their national origin.
Ireland opposes the directive on the grounds that it is too restrictive and fails to take account of the reality of labour movement within the Community.
Foreign contractors flooded into Germany to capitalise on the construction boom that followed reunification. But that boom has now subsided and German workers argue that they are forced to compete under unfair conditions with cheap labour from abroad.
Irish workers have been much in demand, not only on account of their relatively low wage rates, but also because they are prepared to work considerably longer hours than their German counterparts.
According to Ms Karen Rothwell, of An Bord Trachtala, most Irish subcontractors are so firmly established in Germany that they will not be affected by the new ruling.
