It would be "unconscionable" for Ireland to repeat the mistakes by other countries on immigration, Ictu general secretary David Begg has said.
At the launch of Anti-Racist Workplace week, Mr Begg referred yesterday to the current controversy in Britain over a Conservative election candidate who was forced to step down after endorsing Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech.
While the Irish trade union movement had always stood against racism, Mr Begg recalled that when Powell made his notorious speech in 1968, London dockers marched to the Houses of Parliament - not to protest, but to congratulate the Tory MP on his speech.
"I mention this because I think there's no room of complacency," he said. "Isn't it just extraordinary that, 40 years after one of the most infamous incidents in political life, that something like that should happen again. It just shows that every generation of people has to be won for the cause of the right and proper treatment of humanity.
"The best way for us, in a practical way, to achieve this, is to ensure that within our labour market regime, there is no place for discrimination of any sort. It is when people are treated equally that the reasons for separation disappear."
Minister of State for Integration Conor Lenihan praised the social partners for driving this week's initiative, which was "an important signal" in the fight against discrimination.
"The real strength of our partnership process is that as it moved from 1987 forward to the present day, it moved with affluence beyond mere issues of pay and work and conditions to the bigger policy issues of equality and the kind of society we wish to see and have reflected here in Ireland," Mr Lenihan said.
Turlough O'Sullivan, director general of employers' group Ibec, said immigrants made an "enormous contribution" to Ireland's economy and society.
"We needed them badly when they came. We had an explosion in cost problems and staff shortages in the marketplace, and without immigrants I think this economy would have struggled. Instead, it has been extremely successful over the last seven or eight years."
As part of Anti-Racist Workplace Week, a radio and billboard campaign will promote equality and diversity in the workplace.
