A DECISION by leading construction firm P Elliott to lay off up to 25 bricklayers has re-ignited a row over the use of subcontractors in place of directly employed labour.
The company says it laid off the workers because it has no work for them but the workers claim this is not the case and they are being replaced by subcontractors.
The Building and Allied Trades Union (Batu) said it didn’t accept the company’s explanation that the redundancies were due to the economic downturn.
Assistant general secretary Brendan O’Sullivan said the company had work requiring bricklayers in the Republic, Northern Ireland and Britain and there was evidence that it was using subcontractors to carry it out.
An agreement banning the use of subcontracted labour in Dublin ran out last year.
The dispute is set for hearing at the Construction Industry Disputes Tribunal, a division of the Labour Court, later this month.
Cyril Keegan, human resources manager of P Elliott, said they had laid off bricklayers because there was no work for them. The company is completing work on the regeneration of Fatima Mansions in Dublin, as well as building large developments at Clancy Quay in Islandbridge and the former Irish Timesbuilding on D'Olier Street.
He declined to comment on the use of subcontractors for bricklaying work.
