GAMA- Labour Court settlement reached
national |
worker & community struggles and protests |
press release 
Friday May 27, 2005 18:56
by Joe Higgins T.D. - Socialist Party
Labour Court Award of 8,000 per annum for unpaid overtime a stunning vindication of worker exploitation revelations;
However, award falls far short of what workers should have been paid for massive amount of overtime worked with GAMA.
After eight weeks of work stoppage GAMA workers have voted to accept a Labour Court proposal of 8,000 per year worked plus one months wages.
The Labour Court award of 8,000 per annum for unpaid overtime represents a stunning vindication of worker exploitation revelations
However, the award falls far short of what workers should have been paid for the massive amount of overtime worked with GAMA. In fact GAMA workers were forced to work up to 84 hours a week in all kinds of weather.
Given that the workers have accepted the Labour Court recommendation, the Government now has a huge responsibility to force GAMA to pay the settlement within days.
For four years GAMA operated a ruthless machine of exploitation of its Turkish workers in Ireland. Never again must such a vile regime of exploitation be allowed in this State.
The trade union movement must now move immediately to a major organisation of all migrant workers to ensure that this is the case.
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2from unison.ie
17:15 Saturday May 28th 2005
The Turkish construction company Gama has accepted Labour Court proposals to reimburse 80 of its workers. The workers have been on strike claiming they were underpaid for overtime. They voted to accept the Labour Court proposals earlier this week.
They will be paid 8,000 per year of service to compensate for the alleged under payments. Each of the Turkish workers will also be paid an ex-gratia payment of 2,000 when they finish their contract in Ireland.
The average pay out per worker will be around £17,000.
SIPTU Industrial Secretary Noel Dowling said "Although our members have benefited from the recommendation it still sees Gama getting away with a considerable amount of earnings that those workers earned nevertheless we welcome it because the workers want to finalise their affairs here, get their money and go back to Turkey"
from unison.ie
17:15 Saturday May 28th 2005
The Turkish construction company Gama has accepted Labour Court proposals to reimburse 80 of its workers. The workers have been on strike claiming they were underpaid for overtime. They voted to accept the Labour Court proposals earlier this week.
They will be paid 8,000 per year of service to compensate for the alleged under payments. Each of the Turkish workers will also be paid an ex-gratia payment of 2,000 when they finish their contract in Ireland.
The average pay out per worker will be around £17,000.
SIPTU Industrial Secretary Noel Dowling said "Although our members have benefited from the recommendation it still sees Gama getting away with a considerable amount of earnings that those workers earned nevertheless we welcome it because the workers want to finalise their affairs here, get their money and go back to Turkey"
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