Many young Irish workers are being brutally exploited by companies while working in Australia, often by employers from their own country.
Several newspaper reports in Australia have highlighted the unacceptable working conditions many young Irish workers are enduring. In September, evidence also emerged at a hearing of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance in Sydney, which revealed the systematic exploitation of young Irish construction workers by Irish managers.
“More and more stories of young workers being underpaid, having no right to holidays and being forced to work in dangerous environments are being reported to me,” said Workers’ Party Meath representative and life-long building worker, Seamus McDonagh.
In a statement to the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance, a 24-year old Irish man makes allegations against an Irish-run construction company that include immigration fraud, tax fraud, bullying and intimidation.
In the statement the young worker, who worked with the construction company until returning to Ireland in late 2013, says that in just over two years he was forced to move to work in eight different locations in Australia “while working six days per week in harsh conditions and constantly feeling intimidated”. Constantly under-paid while working a skilled trade he says he “left Australia feeling broken and abused”.
Dave Noonan, the head of Australia’s largest construction union, the CFMEU, said the revelations contained in the young worker’s statement, “shone a light on the systematic exploitation of overseas workers and reveals a sordid story of bullying by a construction industry employer.”
The young worker’s statement also alleges that Irish managers threatened workers who wanted to join a union. They also made claims of connections to paramilitaries and the mafia in order to intimidate young workers.
The Australian Government attempted to use the investigations of the Royal Commission to undermine the trade union movement. In response, trade unions have revealed massive exploitation in the construction sector of migrant workers.
