Defending Migrant Workers’ Rights

antrim | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Saturday March 08, 2008 19:09 by éirígí - éirígí

A Belfast employer who unfairly dismissed a young Slovakian worker has been forced to give in to the demands of trade union officials acting on her behalf.

A Belfast employer who unfairly dismissed a young Slovakian worker has been forced to give in to the demands of trade union officials acting on her behalf.

Dasa Kacova was sacked on the spot from Delaney’s Restaurant on January 17 for asking why she had to remove her jumper at work on a cold day. Since then her case had been taken up by representatives of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Belfast.

A written appeal by Dasa against her dismissal and a number of letters written by her trade union representative, asking that she be reimbursed for loss of earnings and have her outstanding holiday entitlements paid, went completely ignored by the employer.

Due to this intransigence, a number of pickets were called outside the restaurant to draw awareness to the employer’s disregard for workers’ rights, especially the rights of migrant workers who are in many ways the most vulnerable workers in Irish society.

These pickets, attended by a number of éirígí activists, were extremely successful and the employer agreed to talk to Dasa’s trade union representative and eventually acceded to the demands that she be remunerated for lost work and holidays.

The trade unionists who worked on Dasa’s case thanked all of the political activists who participated in the pickets and helped bring pressure to bear on her ex-employer.

éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson congratulated all those who worked to ensure this victory for migrant workers’ rights:

“This is a case that was watched with interest by migrant workers and their advocates throughout Belfast and further afield. This case also directly affected Dasa Kacova’s co-workers in Delaney’s, most of whom are also migrant workers.

“A clear statement has been sent that employers cannot act with such disregard in their treatment of migrant workers. This lesson must continue to be taught in every workplace throughout the country, on every shop floor where an employer feels he can exploit migrant workers with impunity.

“We in éirígí extend our solidarity to Dasa for refusing to accept her mistreatment, and to all of those trade union and political activists fighting against the exploitation of the working class, both migrant and Irish-born.”