Workers' Solidarity

On a visit to the US an Irish American activist gave me a small notice which once upon a time could be found in boarding... houses across that vast country and indeed in others as well. It read ‘No Irish need apply'. Many of those who overcame this discrimination endured bad work conditions, low pay and exploitation as they tried to make a life for themselves and their families far from home.
In recent weeks 14 women from Latvia and Lithuania were dismissed by Kilnaleck Mushrooms in County Cavan after complaining about changes to their work procedures. They said they had been working between 80 to 100 hours each week for an average wage of €2.50 per hour – about a third of the minimum wage.
Almost every day a new horror story emerges around the ill-treatment and exploitation of migrant workers in Ireland. The experience of the Irish abroad in the 19th and for much of the 20th centuries is now a depressing feature of life for others in 21st century Ireland.
Whose fault is this and what do we do about it? The fact is that there has been a gradual EU wide drive to erode the conditions in which workers are employed. For example, the EU Services Directive would allow private companies to undercut public service providers by employing people on the salaries of their country of origin and under the employment conditions of their country of origin. This would open migrant workers up to even greater levels of exploitation, with no protection, while creating the real prospect of indigenous workers being displaced by migrant workers.
Migrant workers are considered by some elements of Irish business and government purely in terms of their economic value.
They are there to maximise profits and expand business. Their rights and entitlements as human beings are secondary. This is evident in the Government's lack of commitment to the rights of migrant workers. For example, by the ongoing refusal to ratify the 1990 UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
It is evident in the way in which the Government has pursued a minimal enforcement of existing labour law. In 2005, a year in which revelations of the exploitation of migrant workers became an almost daily occurrence, less than 1800 employers were visited by the labour inspectorate. The labour inspectorate consists of a mere 31 labour inspectors for a workforce 1.6 million.
All of this is a clear signal to employers that the Government is not concerned with the welfare of migrant workers. Bad employers exploit workers because they can. They displace workers because they can. For displacement to be of any value to these employers, in their quest to increase profits, the new workers have to be subject to low pay and increased hours, reduced holidays and other reduced entitlements.
Recent comments by Labour Party Leader Pat Rabbitte put the blame for displacement onto the migrant workers and took the spotlight and responsibility away from the actions of employers and the policies being pursued by the Government. No one should risk setting one group of workers that is the existing workforce, against another group, of migrant workers. Creating divisions between workers runs contrary to everything James Connolly upheld and died for. It is at variance with the core trade union principle of solidarity between workers.
How do we tackle this issue? Workers, trade unions, political parties of the left and all of those with a social conscience must work together to achieve a clear set of demands capable of resolving this issue. Those committed to ending exploitation and the displacement of workers must unite in ensuring that the Dáil passes into law a common set of core rights and entitlements for migrant workers including family reunification, the option of permanent residence after a fixed period, health, housing, welfare and education rights.
We need legislation and standards, including pay and working conditions of employment which can ensure that no one is in a position to exploit vulnerable workers for profit. Existing pay and conditions can be protected by way of Employment Regulations Orders backed up by stringent enforcement of labour law from a labour inspectorate strengthened, empowered and provided with the resources to deal with its task efficiently.
If Irish and migrant workers have the same pay and conditions of employment, this removes any financial benefit for unscrupulous employers who might otherwise seek to displace their existing work force. That's common sense.
The Trade Union movement has a particular role to play in leading the campaign against exploitation and displacement. Trade unions were born out of the need for workers to act in solidarity against bosses whose sole interest was profit. This solidarity is at the heart of trade unionism. It was at the heart of those who fought the bosses in Dublin in 1913. It must be at the heart of trade unionism in the 21st century as we confront efforts to divide workers.
But the Trade Union movement on its own cannot win this battle. It will require the combined efforts of workers, of trade unionists, of republicans and of socialists to meet this particular challenge.