Type
Other
Country
Ireland
Region
Southern and Eastern; Mid-West;
Location of affected unit(s)
County Clare
Sector
Construction
Construction Of Buildings And Infrastructure Engineering
Construction Of Buildings
41 - Construction of buildings

200 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
19 October 2007
Employment effect (start)
20 October 2007
Foreseen end date

Description

ZRE Katowicz, a Polish firm that operates in the construction sector, has dismissed 200 workers at its site in County Clare after it was found that the firm were not operating in compliance with Irish employment law. The firm, which had a contract at the ESB Moneypoint electricity power station in Country Clare, had their contract with ESB Moneypoint terminated after it was revealed that the company was underpaying its workers at the County Clare site. The issue came to light after a complaint by the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union. The union claimed that the firm was paying its workers 5.20 EUR an hour, less than a third of the legally binding construction industry rate. The figures were disputed by ZRE Katowicz, but it admitted that an audit had uncovered ‘limited’ underpayments. ESB Moneypoint has stated that it was aware of a ‘number of outstanding issues’ in relation to ZRE Katowicz’s compliance with Irish labour and employment law. For additional information on the dispute between the workers and the ESB and the terms of deal please see in-depth analysis published on the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) - Polish workers secure jobs and back pay after dispute at electricity plant (14 January 2008).


Sources

  • 20 October 2007: The Irish Times

Citation

Eurofound (2007), ZRE Katowicz, Other in Ireland, factsheet number 65948, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/65948.