A Kildare concrete company where workers have been on strike for five weeks has denied a claim that Irish employees are being replaced by non-nationals on lower rates of pay.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte told the Dáil this week that workers at Doyle Concrete in Rathangan had been "disemployed to allow for the employment of cheap labour".
Thirty Siptu members at the plant and an adjacent enterprise, Steelite, which is operated by the same management, have been on strike since October 5th.
The union claims the company made four people redundant without consultation, and has since hired non-national workers on lower rates of pay.
Doyle Concrete denied the union's claims yesterday.
In a statement to The Irish Times it said a reduced starting rate of pay had been introduced for all new employees, whether Irish or non-national, as part of a survival plan.
"This dispute is not about non-nationals, as has been suggested by the union. It is about securing the future of Doyle Concrete Ltd, and the company deeply resents the implication by the union that it treats any of its staff differently on racial grounds."
Doyle Concrete was criticised by the Labour Court in a recommendation issued to the parties this week. It said the company had acted unreasonably in reducing rates of pay for new entrants without first seeking to convince Siptu of the necessity of the measure.
The company had told the court that redundancies and wage restructuring were introduced to help secure its viability. It said there were no Irish applicants for the new positions, which were filled in line with existing protocols.
Siptu branch organiser Adrian Kane said yesterday that 11 non-nationals hired by the company were being paid €8.50 an hour, €2 less than the rate for Irish general operatives. Non-nationals were receiving no additional pay for overtime, whereas the Irish workforce was on an overtime rate of time-and-a-half.
Doyle Concrete, however, said only two employees, both non-nationals, were working on the new start rate. It declined to discuss rates of pay in detail, but said it was hopeful the dispute could be resolved.
The company has 22 staff in total. Steelite, which has 43 employees, is to return to the High Court today to seek an extension of an interim injunction preventing those in dispute from obstructing the entrance to the Steelite premises.
