Migrant workers from non-English-speaking countries are in some cases being paid 31 per cent less than Irish workers for doing the same job, according to new research commissioned by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu).
Addressing its biennial delegate conference in Bundoran yesterday, congress assistant general secretary Sally-Anne Kinahan said that in addition to a gender pay gap, a migrant worker pay gap was also emerging.
The research had found that, controlling for education and work experience, immigrants earned 18 per cent less than native workers, Ms Kinahan said. It had shown that immigrants from non-English-speaking countries were at a 31 per cent wage disadvantage compared to native workers.
It is understood that the research papers, which will be published later in the year, concluded that when all job and personal characteristics were taken into account, women still received 12 per cent lower hourly pay than men.
The research found that processes giving rise to unequal pay went back to educational choices that were made at an early stage in children's education.
It also said that pay inequality was influenced by the high level of occupational segregation in the Irish labour force and by the lack of appropriate policies to reconcile work and family life.
It is understood the research will call for reforms in a number of areas including a new requirement for employers with more than 10 full-time staff to publish a periodic equality pay audit.
It recommends that where significant disparity is found between groups covered by equality grounds, the employer would be obliged to draw up an equal pay action plan in negotiation with the trade unions.
Ms Kinahan said the findings showed that the Government should move to improve the position of agency workers.
Ictu has argued that Britain, Hungary and Ireland are the only countries in the EU that allowed agency workers to be paid less and treated worse than regular staff.
Ms Kinahan called for greater investment in the State's equality infrastructure such as the Equality Authority and the Equality Tribunal.
In one case, a person had to wait 5½ years for a hearing, she said. A four-year wait for a tribunal hearing now appeared to be regular and this was particularly unfair to people who had work permits for a limited period.
The chief executive of the Equality Authority, Niall Crowley, told the conference that significant inequalities still persisted "when we look across the nine grounds covered by equality legislation".
"When we look to our equality infrastructure, we must acknowledge resource barriers that hinder an effective implementation of our equality legislation.
When we look to our equality legislation, we must acknowledge that it requires review and evolution if it is to keep pace with developments in other jurisdictions," Mr Crowley said.