A Polish construction company admitted yesterday to "limited" underpayments of workers at the ESB power station in Moneypoint.
But the company, ZRE Katowice (Ireland) Construction, said it wished to repudiate "misinformation" concerning its pay rates and other conditions of employment.
In its first public statement since the underpayments came to light on Monday, the company said its Moneypoint workers received a basic monthly salary of €1,300 net of all deductions and taxes.
Their gross monthly salary included about €800 in expenses incurred by the company on the employees' behalf.
"Such deductions are required to be 'fair and reasonable' based upon company payment receipts for accommodation, meals, travel, training, medical care, repatriation and others," the statement said.
"All such deductions are specified and authorised through contracts of employment agreed in Poland. There is also provision for bonus payments."
The company said it was committed to paying the registered employment agreement (REA) rate, which sets out the legal minimum pay rate for construction workers. But it admitted that an audit of its pay rates at the end of January had identified a "limited shortfall" in its pay rates.
It had subsequently agreed a memorandum of understanding with the ESB which committed the company to paying the appropriate rate to each employee and providing workers with revised contracts of employment.
The company had also agreed to make up the shortfall in previous earnings, provide a "fuller pay slip" that detailed all deductions and provide documentation to auditors.
The underpayments were made public by the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), which said ZRE's 66 employees at Moneypoint were being paid €5.20 an hour, less than a third of the REA rate.
The ESB, however, claimed the shortfall was between €4 and €6 an hour and that the problem had, in any event, been addressed.
In its statement yesterday ZRE Katowice said it recognised the TEEU as the relevant union to represent skilled employees, and that union members' contributions were paid by the company.
However, the union yesterday accused the company of denying it access to its members at the site in Moneypoint.
TEEU regional secretary Pat Guilfoyle said the company had proposed he meet two workers selected by management. A general meeting on the site had gone ahead, however, after he threatened to hold one "on the public highway". The meeting was continuing last night.
