Migrant workers on €5 an hour, says Siptu

Immigrant construction workers are being paid €5 an hour on a Co Sligo construction site, Siptu claimed yesterday.

Siptu's West of Ireland Construction Branch organiser Noel Kilfeather condemned what he termed the treatment of close to 70 workers, mainly from Poland and Lithuania.

He accused the company, Liam Scott Construction, of being in breach of the Construction Industry Registered Employment Agreement which entitles workers to minimum hourly rates of from €13.48 to €16.85 depending on their skills.

According to Siptu a small number of Irish workers on the site at Enniscrone, Co Sligo, are being paid marginally more than their Eastern European colleagues but they too are getting considerably less than the mandatory rates.

The Siptu official said the case was appalling not only because of the rate being paid but because the workers were not getting weekly pay slips.

He said they were getting cash payments in an envelope at the end of the week with no breakdown or payslip included.

In a statement, issued through a legal firm yesterday, the company insisted that it was a "conscientious employer" but said it would not engage in a public discussion of these matters through the media.

"The company believes that it complied at all times with the law relating to its dealings with its employees," said the statement on behalf of Liam Scott Construction.