Contract/Temporary Employment bypassing Irish Labour Laws

by Paul Kinsella - A former contract/temporary worker myself Sun Jul 07, 2002 21:11 paulkinsella53 at yahoo dot com 53 Lorcan Grove, Santry, Dublin 9, Eire 087-9748511

I've been in 3 of those temporary/contract jobs myself. I am now working for An Post thankfully, which is a hell of a lot securer, but I know where you're coming from. Luckily in the 3 places that I worked for they treated me a lot better than what you've described. Having said that I have heard many horror stories about those contract/temporary jobs. Unfortunately as far as I am aware they're not breaking any Irish laws. They're far too cute and clever to be caught out by any employment legislation. As you say yourself this proves the point that we need to Unionise these jobs. Unfortunately given the very conservative/Pro-partnership policies of the vast majority of the Irish Trade Union Movement at the moment this is going to be a very uphill battle! This is why we need Mick O'Reilly reinstated as Secretary of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU). I am also glad to see that there are so many Grassroots Groups being set up by the ordinary members in so many of the Unions. It is very encouraging to see that the Left has managed to get a very strong base in the Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU). Hopefully other Unions will follow suit very soon. Certainly if the very good attendance representing a very broad spectrum of Trade Union members at the Reinstate Mick O'Reilly and Eugene McGlone Cross Union Support Public Meeting in Wynn's Hotel, Dublin last Thursday is anything to go by then there is a very good reservoir of an active fighting back campaign to make our Unions defend their members. You could also join a Union on the 'QT'. I was a member of the ATGWU while I worked in the 3 contract/temporary jobs. I had become a member of the ATGWU while I was working for a FAS C/E Employment Scheme and I remained a member of the ATGWU while I worked in the 3 temporary/contract jobs, never telling my employers that I was a member of the ATGWU. It was actually my Supervisor in my first C/E Scheme who encouraged me to join the ATGWU. At the time back in 1995 both the ATGWU and SIPTU were recruiting FAS C/E Scheme Workers, but my Supervisor very strongly advised me not to touch SIPTU with a barge pole as they were no good and absolutely useless and he was dead right! If you want to talk with me privately then Email me at my Email address above. I wish you all the best in your struggle.

by Querty Azerty Mon Jul 08, 2002 02:27

You made a couple of interesting points there. One in particular I wanted to look at was the idea of joining a union on the QT.

This is not mentioned in any of the contacts I have had, but I was told by a friend that there is a clause in his contact which states that it is not permissible to join an *external* trade union orginisation. Anyone know if this is legal?

Also, we may have the right to join a union but in this case the employer has the right not to renew the contract. So unless everyone was to do it (enough to get noticed in the media) I don't see a significant benefit. As you say, the unions supporting the NDP are likely to shy away from any action even if the company was to fail to renew a contract. In reality, what can they do? The company has simply decided not to renew a contract and can cite many possible, legal and valid reasons for doing so. And from dealing with these people I can tell you they would find one pretty quickly if the contractors tried to organise in any way. By their nature, these jobs are highly insecure and in an unstable market people will not take action that puts their income under such a threat.

With regard to the extent of this practise, I invite people to take a look at the online job sites as an example. You will find hundreds of jobs through agencies, dozens from actual companies. This seems to be the future of employment, especially in the more fickle IT and telecoms sectors.

I don't have any problem with my actual job, but I do find the idea of someone taking 40-50% of the salary *I* worked for whilst affording me less rights or security than my grandparents would have had a bit too much to take. There are some real criminals out there in the temping business and should be exposed. An anonymous website would be a good idea, with contrubutions, both positive and negative about these outfits helping people to make up their mind in choosing who to hand over half their wages to.