Ex-Employee of Poppadom Take Away Leads Protest to Demand Compensation

February 2012

NEWS RELEASE

Muhammad Younis has been awarded €92,000 by a Rights Commissioner, following an official complaint about alleged breaches of employment rights. However Muhammad Younis' ex-employer, Mr Amjad Hussain trading as Poppadom registered under New Business Horizons, has not yet paid the award despite a Labour Court ruling ordering him to pay the compensation.
Muhammad has taken to the street to demand payment for what is owned to him. Today Thursday, 9th of February, 2012 at 6.30pm he will protest outside the Poppadom Take Away Restaurant. He will stand with fellow workers to call for payment of the money owed to him and to raise awareness of the severe exploitation he suffered at the hands of his ex employer.

Muhammad said, ‘I suffered at the hands of my ex employer. I am protesting today to show the public what is happening to workers and to again ask Mr Hussain to pay me my money. I was treated like a slave. The exploitation I suffered was very cruel. I have nothing now. I will keep protesting until I get justice."

Robert Dowds TD said, "Muhammed Younis was held in slave-like conditions while working in the restaurant and deserves to be paid the money he is owed. Like most people, I was under the impression that slave labour was consigned to history. That does not seem to be the case, with more and more cases of forced labour coming to light. It is simply unacceptable that any person is treated in this way, and I have spoken in the Dáil to urge the Government to do more to tackle the problem of forced labour in Ireland."

According to Ms Gráinne O'Toole of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI), who is supporting his protest, ‘The real challenge now will be to ensure that Muhammad actually gets paid but also we need the government to tackle the problem of modern day slavery. In Ireland, there is no legal punishment for this injustice. Therefore, the only avenue open to Muhammad was to pursue breaches of employment law. The government recently stated that they would address the anomalies in the law to criminalise forced labour and were treating the situation as urgent. We are calling on Minister Alan Shatter to act now to protect victims against this heinous act."
Ends

Contact
Gráinne O'Toole (MRCI Project Leader; Workplace Rights) - 086 867 8883
Siobhan O' Donoghue (MRCI Director) - 087 677 7463