Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

As we speak, workers in the Corrib Oil gas station in Ballinasloe are on strike for the third time in recent weeks. They are mostly young workers, including students, some people from the new communities who have come to the country and some older workers. All are on pretty miserable pay. The basic starting pay is approximately €11.30 per hour. They are on strike because Corrib Oil, which is a big fuel company that runs approximately 25 or 30 gas stations and runs the H2 gas stations, is refusing to recognise the union the workers in Ballinasloe have joined, namely Mandate. On such pay levels, those workers are entirely justified in trying to join a union and better their conditions. It is a miserable level of pay. Their employer should recognise their union. Is it not time for mandatory trade union recognition? Will the Government use its influence on Corrib Oil to recognise these workers' union?

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