German and Irish construction workers rebuilding the city of Berlin are being undercut by workers from outside the European Union.
Angry German workers protested at the Reichstag construction site in central Berlin today. In spite of a building boom, approximately 400,000 German building workers are on the dole. Cheap foreign labour is plentiful, and almost half of the jobs in this country are going to migrant workers from the former Eastern bloc, as well as Irish construction workers.
It's becoming a major headache for Chancellor Kohl.
Klaus Pankau from the building and construction union BAU tells RTÉ News that a minimum wage is required for all workers.
Every worker, foreign worker, German worker, working here in Berlin or in Germany have to be paid on the same level.
Not far away in the Oscar Wilde Pub, Irish construction workers enjoying a pint after a day’s work are aware that they may soon have to move on from the German capital. As one man tells RTÉ News, their jobs will eventually go to non-EU workers,
They are so cheap that we can't compete with them.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 1 April 1997. The reporter is Tony Connelly.
