Efforts to resolve the row at Gama Construction over the pay and conditions of its Turkish workers got underway yesterday.
Talks between the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) and the company's management were continuing last night, several hours after they began.
Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey and deputy director of conciliation Kevin Foley had earlier held discussions with Siptu, the union representing Gama's general workers.
Up to 300 of the company's Turkish workers have been engaged in a stoppage for the past three weeks. Gama denies their claim that they were paid as little as €2 to €3 an hour and were not told about bank accounts in the Netherlands into which a portion of their wages was paid.
Money in those accounts has now been transferred to the workers' personal accounts in Turkey, but a dispute about unpaid overtime remains unresolved.
Siptu construction branch secretary Eric Fleming said this was a "major problem". "Gama are saying the men worked only 48 hours a week but the reality is that in some cases they worked up to 80 and even 88 hours a week," he said.
After discussions with the Siptu delegation concluded, the commission began its meeting with Gama management at 4pm and the talks continued into last night. If there is no resolution soon, the company is likely to be hit by an official strike, with Siptu and the other Gama unions holding a ballot this week on industrial action.
Gama, a major international construction company with headquarters in Turkey, has been under scrutiny since February when Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins accused it in the Dáil of exploiting its Turkish workers.
The company insists it pays all its workers the agreed construction industry rates.
