Eight mushroom pickers from eastern Europe, who worked long hours on a farm in the Irish midlands for less than half the statutory minimum wage, have been awarded a total of over €113,000 in a back pay settlement.

It was the second such case in just five months. Late last year an Irish employment appeals tribunal awarded compensation of €350,000 to 13 more immigrant pickers, also underpaid by another mushroom company and then sacked when they complained about their working conditions and joined a trade union.

In the latest case, the pickers - five from Latvia, two from Ukraine and one from Belorussia - had been working for Lalor Mushrooms in County Laois. According to a spokesman for a Dublin solicitors’ firm, Greg O’Neill, which represented the workers, they were working up to 70 hours a week and being paid by the weight of mushrooms picked, “which worked out at €3.50 an hour”. The Irish national minimum wage is currently €8.30 per hour.

The case was taken to a rights commissioner, who arbitrates in Irish industrial disputes, and he awarded the pickers back pay settlements ranging from €7,563 to €18,298, under the national minimum wage legislation, plus compensation of €3,750 each for having to work beyond the maximum 48-hour week.

According to the solicitors’ spokesman, however, Lalor Mushrooms has still to pay up and the case may have to be taken to the courts to ensure compliance. “Some of the workers have found alternative employment,” he said, “and two of the Latvians have returned home, which complicates matters,” he said.

While the Irish industry, which exports most of its output to the UK, is heavily dependent on imported labour from eastern Europe, official spokesman insist that only a minority is involved in worker exploitation. However, in its ruling late last year against Kilnaleck Mushrooms in County Cavan, the employment appeals tribunal said it felt compelled to make maximum awards because of the circumstances of the case - that “workers with limited English, brought to Ireland specifically for mushroom picking”, had been dismissed in “a flagrantly unfair manner” when they complained about pay and conditions and joined a union.

In the aftermath of the case, Trade and Enterprise Minister Micheal (stet) Martin announced an industry investigation by labour inspectors to tackle all such exploitation, and that inquiry is said to be continuing.

However, workers’ grievances are now being aired through a Migrant Rights Centre, which called in the solicitors in this latest case. And the solicitors feel there is much still to be done. Their spokesman said: “This case is just the tip of the iceberg in an industry that is rife with exploitation.”

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