Unions representing workers in the building industry in Cork have warned that members may emigrate because rogue developers are flouting agreed industry pay rates by paying foreign employees as little as 8 an hour.
Unions have gathered evidence, including wage slips, which show how widespread the abuse is in Cork city and county.
The Cork Building Group of Unions, which represents 20,000 labourers across Munster, says foreign staff are prepared to work for half the industry rate of 16.87 an hour.
The plastering, plumbing, carpentry and electrical unions discussed the issue last week at a meeting with Siptu and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin.
Billy Curtin, secretary of the Cork Branch of Plasterers and secretary of the Cork Building Group, has urged the government to crackdown on greedy developers who are flouting industry pay rates in order to take advantage of foreign workers.
"There are a lot of [ foreign] lads going around sites and they are prepared to work for €5 an hour. What builders are turning around to our lads and saying is 'If you drop your price and compare it with those lads we will give you the job'.
"Now that is breaking the rules. Make it [ this practice] illegal. Prosecute builders and developers if they are caught underpaying. There has to be a level playing field."
Mr Curtin says Irish tradesman could be forced to emigrate if the abuse of the agreed industry rates continues.
"I have never seen anything like it. I have people asking me if I have contact numbers in America, Australia and London. They are thinking of emigrating because there is nothing here. We can't go back to the 70's and 80's when we all had to emigrate. We will go back to those days if we leave this happen."
The Cork Building Group of Unions insists it has "no problem" with foreign workers coming to Ireland.
However, the union has expressed anxiety about how the cut in pay is impacting on Irish employees who were previously in receipt of agreed standard rates.