Congress President Brian Campfield has called for "wage theft" to be criminalised with employers who wrongly deduct or withhold wages facing the full sanction of the law.
Mr Campfield was speaking at the launch of a new report from the Migrant Rights Centre All Work and Low Pay, documenting the poor and abusive treatment of migrant workers in Ireland.
"It appears to me that there are double standards operating in relation to employers who illegally withhold and steal money from their staff, compared to workers who take money from their place of work.
"Employers who act in this way are stealing and they should be treated as such. That's why I am calling for a new crime of Wage Theft to be introduced so that employers cannot do this with impunity.
He said the MRCI report complements the Congress Charter for Fair Conditions at Work and pointed out that the "only real way to combat inequality and unfairness is by organising and building the pressure on the Government and on employers.
'to migrant workers I would say to them that the trade union movement supports you and there is a place for you within the trade union movement, on an equal basis with other trade union members," he concluded.
