Turkish workers in dispute with Gama Construction have threatened to go on hunger strike in pursuit of their claim for what they say is millions of euro in unpaid overtime.
Unions yesterday placed official pickets on the company's two Dublin sites, claiming Gama had refused to reinstate 96 workers engaged in an unofficial stoppage. Gama says it does not have jobs for all 96 in Ireland, but there is work for all of them at company sites, some in Ireland and others abroad.
About 200 other workers who have protested against the construction company have returned home to Turkey.
One of those remaining in Ireland, Serdar Ivak, said as workers had failed to have their grievances addressed through normal protests, they were now prepared to take "more drastic action".
He asked if people wanted to see the workers die of starvation, "because the next stage is we are going to go on hunger strike".
A Gama spokesman responded that it was not true that issues raised by the workers were not being addressed.
A dispute over the payment of wages into Dutch bank accounts had been resolved, while Gama had made it clear it would discuss the overtime issue at the Labour Relations Commission.
Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins, who has championed the workers' cause, claimed Gama was engaged in a "sinister game plan" to remove from Ireland the workers who had protested.
The aim was to ensure there were no workers left to give evidence of the "massive overtime" he claimed they were owed.
Some of the 200 who had gone home did so for family reasons, and others because of "harassment and intimidation" of their families in Turkey, he alleged.
Gama said allegations of intimidation against the company were unfounded. "Intimidation is in fact happening against Gama staff who wish to continue working," it said in a statement. Protesting workers, "operating under Siptu banners", had barricaded the company's site at Balgaddy yesterday morning, Gama claimed.
Siptu represents the majority of Gama workers and is one of three unions, along with Ucatt and Opatsi, that have begun an official strike at the company's Dublin sites.
Gama claimed that seven administrative and technical staff had been evicted from the Balgaddy site by the protesters and told they would be refused food.
"The staff, who wish to continue working, have not been allowed back on to the site to get their belongings. These staff will join other Gama employees who have been forcibly evicted by protesters and whom Gama has had to accommodate in bed and breakfast houses."
At a press conference organised by Siptu and Mr Higgins, however, Gama staff alleged intimidation. One worker, Sedat Toraman, said a number of families had been visited in Turkey and told their worker-relatives were involved in illegal activity in Ireland and should return home for their own safety.
"One worker's wife phoned him and said: 'I don't care about the money. If you don't come back to Turkey immediately I am going back to my father's house'. The man left that night," Mr Toraman said.
It is understood the allegations of intimidation were among the issues raised with the Turkish ambassador to Ireland, Berki Dibek, by Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin yesterday.
Noel Dowling, of Siptu, said unions had accepted an invitation to attend the Labour Relations Commission for talks on Monday. A Gama spokesman said the company would review its position in light of the pickets placed on its Dublin sites yesterday.
