Workers on North Quays 'ostracised' for whistleblowing on pay and contract issues
Eric Crowley and Ben McElwee worked on the North Quays project from September 2023, until August this year.
Workers on the North Quays project have been let go after bringing awareness to multiple issues onsite.
On Tuesday, August 6, workers Ben McElwee and Eric Crowley, came to work at the North Quays project site.
Upon arriving at 7am, they were told that their services were no longer required at the site.
The men said that they have faced backlash from the site’s contractors over the last number of months.
They have accused contractor BAM of breaching employment law by contracting the work out to DPPS Contracts, who in turn contracted the work to Enagh Building Contractors Ltd.
Enagh registered the men as "self-employed" contractors to Revenue.
The men claimed that they were put into a position of either signing the contracts or losing out on work.
Eric, from Tramore, and Ben, living in Kilkenny, have over 30 years experience in working on construction sites. Eddie, Eric's brother, also worked on the site as a labourer.
They came across the job offering for the North Quays project through a DPPS Contracts social media page.
The €170 million project is one of the largest investments ever made into Waterford.
The page, still online on Meta, offered a "30 month contract in Co. Waterford, Ireland", “Excellent rates and bonus for suitable candidates with weekly pay and targets."
It stated further: “We are an established sub-contractor, not an agency.”
The men began work on the site in September 2023 and soon realised that they were expected to register "as self employed", despite the work itself falling out of the remit of "self-employed".
The contracts prevented the workers from receiving PRSI, pension, sickness and death-in-service benefits.
Correspondence revealed that DPPS has not contributed to the Construction Workers Pension Scheme (CWPS) since 2021.
The men were not given their own materials to work with, and were slowly "frozen out" by management onsite after calling attention to various issues.
They said: "We were out of the way of people completely. No one came near us at all."
Ben, having worked on the Rosie Hackett bridge in Dublin, also criticised standards on the site.
He said: "I find a lot of the engineers are inexperienced. The equipment that had been set up [...]had been set up incorrectly. The junior engineers coming onsite had difficulty in giving us proper data in setting out basis for walls, for example. We found that they were incorrect."
Ben continued: "We challenged that and once we challenged that, the person who was instrumental in getting us offsite was the person who had set it up."
The men filed a complaint with SIPTU, and sector organiser for Transport, Energy, Aviation & Construction Division David Lane quickly swung into action on their behalf.
Exploitation of foreign workers is another issue onsite, according to the men, with most migrant workers afraid to voice their concerns over health and safety and pay discrepancies for fear of losing their visas.
Ben said: “The migrant workers need to be trained up properly. You see these lads, if they’re going to use them onsite, it shouldn’t be used to increase their profit.”
Cllr Conor McGuinness described the testimony as "very concerning" and called on Waterford City and County Council to ensure proper protection for workers, saying that they have an "obligation, both legally and ethically, to ensure adherence with workers rights and fair employment practices on all its projects”.
Waterford City and County Council (WCCC) stated that a recent audit showed that BAM fell afoul of the Sectorial Employment Order (SEO) for the Construction Industry.
A WCCC spokesperson said: "A compliance audit was initiated by BAM, on foot of a request from WCCC, on conditions of employment on site and BAM advised in July the audit indicated that a small number of people working on the project were not in receipt of terms and conditions of employment in compliance with the SEO, and that some individuals were registered as self-employed."
A spokesperson for BAM refused to comment on Ben, Eric and Eddie's circumstances, as they "were not employed" by the company.
They stated: "Earlier this year, BAM was made aware of a potential issue on the Waterford North Quays project whereby subcontractors may have incorrectly registered some workers as self-employed. BAM promptly engaged an independent auditor, Contractors Administration Service (CAS), to review subcontractor compliance with the SEO on the project.”
It continued: “CAS’s audit indicated a small percentage of people working on the project were not in receipt of terms and conditions of employment in compliance with the SEO and that some individuals were registered as self-employed. BAM then immediately instructed our subcontractors to provide as a matter of urgency terms and conditions of employment in compliance with the SEO to all workers involved in the project.”
DPPS Contracts did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the Irish Mail on Sunday, Enagh denied the workers’ claims, and said: "We are no longer contracted on the project in question and accordingly have no contractors working there [North Quays]."
