Case studies: Immigrant workers and their experiences

Roni, a Filipino nurse, was paid "student" pay for six months after his registration as a professional and accredited nurse.

Roni, a Filipino nurse, was paid "student" pay for six months after his registration as a professional and accredited nurse.

The hospital told him it would reimburse him at the end of six months the amount of accumulated wages owed. He put up with this for a month, and then another nurse complained and the hospital began to pay them both their proper wages.

Josef from Lithuania, who works as a mushroom-picker, had been told when recruited in the Baltic state that he would work 39 hours a week plus overtime.

He works 45 hours and believes there is one rule for Irish workers and another for foreign workers. He had been told by his employer not to talk about wages and that if he told anybody about his wages he would be dismissed.

READ MORE

He acquired an injury while working and when he returned to work asked for light duties. He was sacked and told that only manual workers were needed.

Stefan, a Ukrainian poultry worker, was sacked for non-attendance while he was ill, despite having a doctor's note.

Yuri, from Russia, is forced to work 27 hours' overtime during weekdays. He loses most of the money earned from those extra hours in tax and wants another job. He said his employer holds his contract and has "a bad attitude to foreign workers".

Erika, who works in the food-processing sector, described long hours of compulsory overtime, including an 18-hour day. She is not allowed to take a smoking break with the other workers, and must get permission to go to the lavatory.