Logistics of Injustice

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: Martin, when I drive through western Bohemia I see pretty villages and rolling forests, and then these gigantic new warehouse buildings. What is going on there?

Martin Rozumek: Those are industrial estates where dozens of firms operate. Above all, they are packing goods brought from elsewhere. Many of them are German. Mostly they are employing workers from Ukraine, through employment agencies. We often come across many cases where these workers suffer wage theft or are denied their fundamental rights. Once they are in that system, it’s very hard for them to get out again.

How do the agencies operate? And where do the problems arise?

The workers are completely dependent on the agencies. That increases the risk of abuse. They are often recruited directly from Ukraine. They are brought by coach and offered accommodation, though the housing is pretty poor. Many of the agencies lack an official licence. That opens the door to clandestine employment, injustice and wage theft.

Often everything is fine at first. Problems arise when workers get ill or want to take leave. It is so easy for the agencies and firms just to sack them.

Really, we can only help them if the agency is above board and legal. Then we can take them to court to enforce rights and pay unpaid wages. But often if we sue, the agency will just declare insolvency to avoid paying up. All we can do then is provide advice. Unfortunately, the Czech authorities provide very little support and the firms involved are principally interested in cheap labour on hire-and-fire terms.

It is very hard to put a figure on the numbers involved. There are certainly a couple of thousand in Bor alone, in the Pilsen region. Usually we only get involved when someone comes to us with a problem, and then we see that forty others in their workplace have the same issues.

How could the situation be improved?

Legislation to make labour exploitation illegal would be helpful. That would facilitate investigation and prosecution. And of course, the agencies need to be regulated properly. The labour inspectorate could do with more staff, too, especially in the affected regions. First and foremost, that means the Pilsen region near the border to Bavaria. 

You have to be able to offer the people something too. When I try to get their wages paid through the courts, I can’t offer them anything. No protection, no visa, nothing. And often they risk losing everything if they go to court.

Many of them don’t know how the law works here. They are bussed in, mostly from Ukraine, and really there is only one moment where we can reach them. That is when they receive their work permits. But people from the agencies are also there in front of the government offices, and they are also recruiting directly from the queue. The authorities know that, but they do nothing about it.

It would be good if they were informed of their rights as early as possible, ideally before they even leave Ukraine. Otherwise the agency is the only instance they have contact with. Fifteen hundred people arrive from Ukraine every week, and I would really like to know how many of them go straight into this system and end up on a production line somewhere in western Bohemia.

The whole thing has a big German connection too, doesn’t it?

Many of the customers are in Germany. Often, they are packing goods for Germany. And the firms using these services are often very well known. They profit from low wages here and just don’t care about the poor conditions. It is rather strange to hear all the talk about supply chain due diligence – which assumes that the problems are overseas – and then to see this kind of thing just a few kilometres from the German border.

The interview was conducted by Thomas Oellermann of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in the Czech Republic.

Martin Rozumek is a lawyer and executive director at the Czech Organisation for Aid to Refugees (OPU) in Prague.