October 7th: Following the overnight occupation by workers of a tower crane on the JJ Rhatigan site at Kishoge Community College in Lucan, trade union Unite has expressed concerns about its members’ safety and has called on Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan to intervene.

Commenting, Unite Regional Officer Tom Fitzgerald said:

“The workers’ action in occupying the tower crane, while not sanctioned by Unite, is fully understandable given their frustration not only at JJ Rhatigan’s continuing refusal to engage, but also at the provocative tactics employed by local Rhatigan management over the past number of weeks. Unite shares that frustration.

“The whole episode has its roots in the fact that, due to a complex system of sub-contracting used by JJ Rhatigan & Co., workers on a taxpayer-funded school building project have been forced into bogus self-employment and paid less than €5 per hour.

“Unite is extremely concerned about the safety of our members on the crane, and we are now calling on Minister Jan O’Sullivan to use her good offices to help achieve a resolution to this dispute before the workers’ safety is further endangered”, Tom Fitzgerald concluded.