Concern about a Polish recruitment agency's offer to source "cheap and legal" workers for Irish employers was expressed yesterday by Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg.
An e-mail from Kontakt International was read by Mr Begg at a press conference to announce details of a march tomorrow in support of workers at Irish Ferries.
Members of all unions are being encouraged to arrange time off work to attend the march to the Dáil, which begins from Liberty Hall at 2pm. Siptu, which has organised the rally, is in dispute with Irish Ferries over its plan to replace unionised seafarers with cheaper labour from eastern Europe.
Union leaders claimed yesterday the company's move was part of a much wider trend towards outsourcing jobs and reducing employment standards.
The march will be used to highlight the threat to workers' pay conditions posed, according to unions, by the proposed EU services directive.
Mr Begg said there was nothing illegal about the service offered by Kontakt International, which had been drawn to Ictu's attention, but it did provide an insight into precisely how the services directive would operate.
The agency's e-mail states that Kontakt can offer "workers with a variety of skills and qualifications and with different levels of competency in English".
"We can employ them and send to you as our employee (leasing workers). We pay taxes and insurance in Poland. They can work for about €4 to €7 an hour. They are available for work in hotels, gastronomy, childcare, elderly care and other occupations. Also we have people with experience in cooking, working in hotel.
"Besides this we have very good bricklayers, carpenters, paperers, gardeners, cabinet-makers, electricians."
There was no reply yesterday evening at a contact number supplied with the e-mail. A website address is also supplied: www.kontakt-international.pl
Unions say the directive would have enabled companies to move their headquarters to member states with minimal protections for workers and treat their employees according to those minimal standards regardless of where they actually worked.
The services directive was rejected by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, and a new version is being finalised by internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy.
Siptu president Jack O'Connor said the effect of the directive would be to "reverse the thrust of the whole European project", which had been about raising the living standards of everyone in Europe.
Ictu president Peter McLoone said all unions were being asked to support the demonstration tomorrow because the issues raised by the Irish Ferries situation should concern all workers, consumers and citizens.
