‘Wage theft’ should be made a crime, ICTU boss says

A new crime of "wage theft" should be introduced to ensure employers who do not pay workers their wages are held accountable, the president of Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) has said.

Brian Campfield said migrant workers were particularly vulnerable to exploitation, including having to work extra hours without pay, earning under the minimum wage and having wages withheld.

Mr Campfield was speaking at the publication of research by the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland entitled All Work and Low Pay: The Experience of Migrants Working in Ireland.

It found 44 per cent of those surveyed received less than the minimum wage of €8.65 an hour, with 48 per cent living on less than €300 a week.

The MRCI research investigated the experiences of workers from outside the European Economic Area who require work permits to be in the State.

More than half (53.3 per cent) were Irish citizens, 30 per cent were here on student visas, 12 per cent on work permits and 4 per cent were undocumented.

They were concentrated in care-work, childcare, retail, catering and hospitality sectors, with many overqualified for the work they were doing.

Some 61 per cent were required to work extra hours without pay, 26 per cent did not get pay slips, and 82 per cent had had no salary increase in the past year.

Exploitation

The issue that came through repeatedly, said Gráinne O’Toole, workplace rights co-ordinator with the MRCI, was “exploitation and discrimination”.

Migrant workers said they were asked to do the more menial jobs, work the more antisocial hours than their Irish or white counterparts, she said.

Many reported having to regularly work for no pay.

When cases were successfully brought to the statutory labour relations bodies and unpaid wages were awarded to the migrant worker, it was commonly the case that the workers would not get the money, Ms O’Toole said.

In a survey of 48 cases brought to labour relations bodies in recent years, some €1.1 million in illegally withheld wages was awarded to migrant workers but just €259,677 was recouped.