Congress Warns On Future Racial Problems
9 Nov 2006
Congress General Secretary David Begg has warned that the creation of a 'two-tier labour market' in Ireland could lead to serious racial and social tensions.
Speaking at a seminar on Business & Immigration, organised by the Institute of European Affairs, Mr Begg said that immigration was not a tap "to be turned on and off to suit our economic needs."
Warning on the avoidance of a two tier labour market, with immigrants occupying the lower tier, Mr Begg said: "Even if this first generation of immigrants is willing, for reasons of expedience, to stay at the bottom rung of the ladder, their children will expect to be treated equally with all Irish citizens. If they are treated unfairly, in the manner of France and the UK, then we cannot expect but to have the same kind of race relations problems.
"The minimum wage is already the default position for an increasing number of employees. It is no longer regarded as a social safety net but rather as an acceptable wage for non-Irish nationals. If that is to be the case then Congress believes there is a compelling reason to increase it substantially, as we have stated in our recent submission to the Labour Court."
Mr Begg said globalisation - particularly worldwide migration - was putting downward pressure on the lower-skilled wages, a phenomenon observed by commentators as diverse as economist Joseph Stiglitz and Samuel Brittain of the Financial Times, although some in Ireland preferred to believe we alone are immune to such forces.
"The net result of these pressures is growing inequality in circumstances of increasing wealth. It needs to be understood that this causes ambivalence at best, and hostility at worst, towards migration. The fact that this is often misdirected towards people who are even more vulnerable does not make it any less a reality."
These negative effects of immigration could best be mitigated through preventing the emergence of a two-tier labour market; operating an effective employment standards regime, as per the measures agreed in Towards 2016; ensuring the minimum wage was kept above the threshold of decency; investing in integration and ensuring migrants get jobs commensurate with their skills.
Mr Begg also said that while Irish business had benefited enormously from immigration, there was a danger that it would be seen as "a panacea for longer-term structural problems in the Irish labour market, which it is not.
"The incentive to bypass the non-active citizens here or to fail to provide the infrastructure of caring necessary to allow women to remain in the labour force or to increase our productivity through upgrading skills - in favour of drawing on immigrant labour supply as the easier option - may lose us the demographic advantage we currently have over the rest of Europe."
ends