A call for the appointment of an ombudsman for migrant workers is to be considered by trade union leaders at a conference beginning today.
Motions on the treatment of migrant workers dominate the opening-day agenda of the biennial conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) in Belfast.
They include one from the Guinness Staff Union which calls on the Ictu executive to strengthen discussions with the Government on "appropriate safeguards" for migrant workers.
These should include the provision of a migrant workers' commissioner or ombudsman, the motion says.
A separate motion by the Building and Allied Trades Union condemns the "widespread abuse and exploitation" of migrant workers in the construction industry.
In its biennial report, to be presented to the conference, the Ictu executive committee claims there is a "culture of impunity" among employers regarding their treatment of immigrant employees.
It claims recent cases such as the Gama Construction controversy raise "profound" questions about public policy in this area.
"The philosophy of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has been to regulate labour law compliance with a very light touch to put it at its most charitable," the report says.
Complaints about Gama by trade unions, politicians and competitors were dismissed by the department "more or less with contempt and without serious investigation", it adds.
"It is clear that that approach to regulation is no longer sustainable and will have to be seen to change and change decisively."
The report also calls for the introduction of "coherence" into wider immigration policy.
"The term 'bogus asylum-seeker' is pejorative. It is true that many asylum seekers are in reality economic migrants but they are often fleeing conditions that any sane person would want to escape."
While there "have to be limits" to the number of people whose asylum applications are approved, there must be humane ways of applying them, the report says.
"Separating mothers and children in the middle of the night or removing children from classrooms is just not acceptable.
"There is much to be said also for an amnesty allowing those people who have been law-abiding and worked hard in the country for many years to stay here."
Childcare, pensions, privatisation of State companies, low pay, the smoking ban and decentralisation are among the other themes covered by the 80 motions to be debated at the conference, which takes place at the Waterfront Hall and continues until Friday.
