#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #POLAND #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) Poland, Workers' Initiative: Wage theft as a business model? IP interventions on immigrants and immigrants [machine translation]

 Volodymyr protests at the headquarters of the Eurokontakt agency demanding the

payment of arrears (August 2021) ---- Among the people applying to our union,
there are more and more workers and women workers from other countries. The most
frequently reported problem is non-payment for work and charging employees and
workers with the costs borne by the employer or intermediary. Below we discuss
the cases in which we have intervened in recent months. It should be emphasized
that this is just the tip of the iceberg of exploitation faced by people who come
to Poland in search of a better life. ---- From Ukraine to Germany via Poland -
the case of Volodymyr and Natalia

Volodymyr comes from Ukraine, this summer. the Ukrainian agency put him in touch
with the Polish Eurokontrakt agency operating in Debno (West Pomeranian
Voivodeship), through which he was sent to work on farms in Germany. The company
drew up a single copy of the contract and, despite requests, never provided the
employee with a copy of the document. Although the farmers paid the agency for
services, Volodymyr was never paid for his work (after two months of working for
free, a German farmer paid him 200 Euro to return to Poland). The defrauded
employee came to Debno to demand overdue payments. The company refused to explain
and refuse to make phone calls. Thus, Volodymyr regularly came to their
headquarters with a sign "return my salary", but he was regularly chased away by
private security and the police.

Through the Ukrainian trade union, Workers' Solidarity, Volodymyr contacted the
Employee Initiative. Our members prepared a request for payment and provided the
employee with support and advice both by phone and on site in Debno. At the same
time, Workers' Solidarity organized a protest outside the Polish embassy in Kiev.
The Ukrainian media and organizations of veterans of the armed conflict in the
Donbas (Volodymyr has had military service on the front lines behind him) got
interested in the matter. In Poland, the material about the case was broadcast by
Telewizja Polsat. Other people injured by the company began to appear outside the
company's headquarters.

Due to the confusion surrounding the case, the Eurokontrakt company paid the
entire outstanding sum to the aggrieved party. After two months of unpaid work
and two weeks of fighting, the Volodymyr affair found its end. Despite the
undoubted success, these activities cost him a lot of energy, time and money
spent on living in Debno. However, the Ukrainian did not stop working for the
benefit of other victims - one of whom is Natalia.

Natalia, like Volodymyr, comes from Ukraine, and like him, she joined
Eurokontrakt through a Ukrainian agency. She went to work in Germany - first on a
farm, then in the hotel and catering industry. Initially, everything went
smoothly. After some time, the employee began to be "shuffled" between different
companies, and the liquidity of the payouts ceased. August 2021 The Ukrainian
woman worked in two hotels and one coffee shop in Germany. She did not receive
any remuneration for this period, despite the declarations of the German
superiors about settling the amounts due with the Polish agency.

When the payments stopped, Natalia found herself destitute. So she came to Debno,
but the company not only refused to talk, but also threatened the desperate woman
with the police. Like her colleague, she did not receive a copy of the signed
contract and after some time she is not able to find out what was in it (however,
she has photos of work schedules and electronic correspondence). Like many
migrant women and workers, Natalia sent her earned money to her family in
Ukraine. At the time of writing this article, he lives with randomly met
destitute people. Together with other victims, including Poles and Poles, he
plans to continue the fight for the stolen salaries. They are ready to regularly
stand in front of the Eurocontract office and refer the case to the court or
prosecutor's office.

The Eurokontrakt company is known in Debno and the surrounding areas for sending
Poles and Ukrainians to work in Germany and not paying for work. According to the
information provided by the inhabitants of Debno, she also maintains contacts
with the Szczecin Institute of National Remembrance. This is where the funds come
from to renovate the facade and decorate it with "patriotic graffiti" under the
pretext of "promoting patriotic attitudes". The building where the company's
headquarters is located gives the impression of a small fortress, is surrounded
by cameras and it is difficult to get to it. However, the fortifications and
patriotic phrases on the walls are not able to obscure the unfair practices of
the Eurocontract or contain the anger of the deceived workers and employees who
have not yet said the last word.

Not only the West Pomeranian Voivodeship

In March 2021, the Employee Initiative together with the Wielkopolska Association
of Tenants and the Anarchist Federation intervened in the case of a group of
thirty workers from Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia, employed by a temporary
employment agency at the Spa Food food processing plant in Smigiel near Poznan.
Without receiving their salary for one month, they stopped working. In response
to the protest, agency officials ordered them to immediately vacate the quarters
provided by an intermediary, and both parties to the dispute called the police.
As a result of the determination of the employees themselves and support from
outside people, it was possible to negotiate advance payments for employees, an
obligation to pay arrears and the right to stay in the accommodation.

In July 2021, we also received a notification, again thanks to the Ukrainian
trade union Solidarnosc Pracownicza, regarding truck drivers working for an
international shipping company near Poznan. The company employs drivers from
Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Moldova and Romania, who are dispatched on
routes all over Europe.

Although most drivers had employment contracts, for some time the company began
to offer them only to Poles and other EU citizens, and preferred contracts of
mandate to "third-country nationals". In addition, they were prompted to sign a
declaration to give up their rights under the "mobility package", ie a 24-hour
rest before the working week or 48 hours before two weeks. Although the wages
were paid on time, the daily wages for departures were often late. Surcharges for
trips to Great Britain were also denied, more difficult due to left-hand traffic,
different units of measurement and differences in road regulations. The drivers
also had reservations about the organization of "conventions" to the house and
frequent changes in the work schedules.

The deduction of the cost of visas and their alleged administrative service was
identified as the most pressing subject. One of the drivers thus lost over PLN
6,000! Due to the specificity of the industry (frequent trips and difficult
contact with other drivers) and the fact that many people discouraged from
working conditions resigned from it, so far no trade union commission has been
established. The Employee Initiative, however, got involved in the return of 6
thousand. PLN deducted "for a visa". In this case, also after the written
intervention of the IP Legal Affairs Group, the injured employee recovered his money.

The problem of charging migrant workers and female workers with the costs (also
fictitious) of producing the necessary documents also affected Nina from Ukraine,
an employee of the logistics warehouse of Rhenus Logistics near Poznan. In
September 2021, thanks to the intervention of the Poznan Employee Initiative
structures, it managed to recover the entire amount wrongly received.

A trade union as a safe haven for people from abroad

The examples presented above are just the tip of the iceberg of exploitation
faced by migrant workers and workers. We can assume that there are hundreds, if
not thousands, of similar cases. Employers and intermediaries take advantage of
the lack of knowledge of the regulations, the lack of understanding of the
realities of the labor market in Poland, and the determination of migrant women
and migrants to find a job better paid than in their countries of origin. The
situation is further aggravated by the fact that foreign labor is used in
particularly heavy and poorly regulated industries, such as construction,
agriculture, housework, food processing, logistics and platform work (transport
services and food delivery). There are already people from other countries in
individual company and inter-company committees of the Employee Initiative.

The available data indicate that there is still an increasing number of employees
and female workers from abroad in Poland. They are not only citizens of Ukraine,
but also Georgia, Armenia, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and others. As a trade union,
we should be prepared to act together with these people. At workers'
demonstrations, the slogan "Solidarity is our weapon!" Is often heard.
Solidarity, regardless of the country of origin.

Prepared by: Ignacy Józwiak / Warsaw Environmental Commission

https://ozzip.pl/informacje/ogolnopolskie/item/2825-kradziez-placy-jako-model-biznesowy-interwencje-ip-ws-imigrantow
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