Migrant workers in Meath battling for equal pay and employment rights

A Brazilian working in Meath has spoken out about the low pay receive by migrant workers and the difficulties they face in fighting for employment rights.

Marcos is one of hundreds of Brazilians working in various food processing facilities in County Meath.

“When we complain about pay or the work conditions, the boss tells you that if you don’t like it, you can go back to your country. He knows we can’t just leave and just go somewhere else.

"I want to change to another company but it’s too difficult. I would need to apply for a whole new work permit which costs a lot of money, takes time, and will put my immigration status at risk.”

"The problem is widespread in Meath and across the country."

The ESRI's recent study on the migrant pay gap in Ireland - Wages and Working Conditions of non-Irish nationals in Ireland - confirmed that, between 2011 and 2018, non-Irish nationals earned, on average, 22 per cent less per hour than Irish nationals – for every €1 an Irish worker earned, a non-Irish worker earned 78 cents.

Responding to this Report, John Regan, SIPTU and Chairperson of the Meath Council of Trade Unions, stated that “A big part of the problem is the employment permit system. This needs a drastic overhaul so that the system works for non-EU migrants. Right now, it is overly restrictive and effectively ties workers to their employer.

In the last 18 months, the government has extended general employment permits to care and homecare workers, meat workers, construction workers, healthcare assistants, haulage drivers, dairy workers, and bus and coach drivers.

“We all know how valuable these front-line workers were during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these same workers cannot freely change employer, and this often leads to exploitation, low pay, and substandard working conditions. This can be addressed if workers are able to change employer while retaining their permit”.

"Other EU countries such as Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Germany give non-EU workers the right to change employer easily while staying on their employment permit.

"There is no reason why the Irish government cannot introduce the same model. This would go a long way to reducing the migrant pay gap,” Mr Regan concluded.

A lack of English language proficiency and difficulties having qualifications recognized are offered as likely factors in limiting opportunities. However, there are other factors largely unreported that contribute to this problem, according to Cultur Migrants Centre.

"Brazilian migrant workers living in rural areas of county Meath are confronted with different barriers to fully integrating into Irish society since they are mostly concentrated in rural areas," said Tinu Achioya, Program Manager.

"These migrants work mainly in dairy farms, factories and handling cattle. Many of those workers are afraid to speak out to their employers about their rights because they come from countries where such rights are largely ignored and are afraid of jeopardizing their prospects in a new country."

She said in some cases, the employer provides the migrants with accommodation to tie them down to the employer, which opens them to potential exploitation.

"We are also aware that there is limited access to services and little knowledge of their rights as they are vulnerable, examples are cases of employers not responding to work-related injuries.

"Most migrants have skills related to farms because they come from areas where these activities are developed in Brazil (most of them come from Goiaes, Brazil). Some of them have high qualifications and professions like architecture and law.

"They have a language barrier to accessing better jobs and the women are working in cleaning private houses informally. There is a gender gap in the economic activities between men and women (men working on farms, women cleaning).

"Irish people want to avoid working in these areas in rural Ireland. Men are working in an operative role, not supervisors or managers, and often endure hard work conditions - starting work early, physical work, and finishing late at night.

"Cultúr is committed to continuing to lobby for necessary safety nets to be put in place by the responsible authorities as well as offering free English proficiency classes to all migrants across the board. We encourage all other community organisations to engage in this work too. We have seen over our years of work how much migrants enrich our communities, and we know that they will continue to do so in the future.

"We encourage employers to reach out to migrant communities and to get to know them, instead of taking advantage of their dire situation to make a buck. These people are often at the end of long and difficult journeys and deserve better. The Ireland that we know is a welcoming one, and by working together we can continue to live up to the Irish reputation," she said.

Greg Ennis, SIPTU divisional organiser for the meat industry said he found that migrant workers will only speak to union officials in confidence.

"They are very afraid of being victimised for being involved in a union. This leads to migrants being exploited. Not all employers are bad, but there are those who exploit their workers."

Mr Ennis said that this didn't just apply to workers from outside the EU who need work permits, but also to people from countries like Romania who have poor language skills and are not aware of their rights.

He explained that employers must provide accommodation to migrant workers being paid under a certain sum, but the accommodation is often of a very poor standard, with overcrowding rife.