FREDERIKSHAVN: A number of foreign employees at Nocmarine, a subcontractor to the scrap metal company M.A.R.S. in Frederikshavn, live in an operational building that is not approved for habitation. The building is owned by DSB and leased to Nocmarine.
Modern American Recycling Services Europe or M.A.R.S scraps platforms and rigs from the oil and gas industry as well as ships.
The operational building is located on DSB's premises at Kragholmen 45. An area between the city center and the harbor - close to the police station. And close to the 3F union.
DOI.dk found the warehouse building, following a tip, at the end of January and was able to observe two Lithuanian-registered Ford vans with seats and tinted windows in addition to a Mercedes SUV with yellow Danish plates parked there early one morning. The building was inhabited with partially closed roller blinds and a light at an open window.
The drive between the warehouse and M.A.R.S is almost three kilometers. The building is fenced. There are railway tracks on both sides. In other words, it is difficult to get close.
The chairman of 3F in Frederikshavn, Finn Jenne, has been keeping an eye on Kragholmen 45 since the beginning of February. He believes that the foreign M.A.R.S. workers live in illegal housing conditions, which is supported by a response from Frederikshavn Municipality, which states that the building is not and has never been approved for habitation.
In February, Finn Jenne has repeatedly visited Kragholmen 45 in the early morning hours. Here, he has noticed box trucks from Lithuania at the address. On his bicycle, he has come very close to the building unnoticed.
DOI.dk took Finn Jenne to the warehouse early one morning. Here only one Lithuanian Ford van stopped at the building. Shortly after 6:30, the van drives from Kragholmen 45 with four men dressed in orange work clothes to M.A.R.S. - where the men enter through the gate to the company.
The van quickly turns around in front of the company and returns again, to be parked shortly before 7:00. During the day, several Lithuanian-registered vans arrive at the address.
3F chairman was followed and confronted
On Wednesday, February 21, Finn Jenne was escorted out in a car with his wife after he had made video recordings and pictures of activity around the DSB building. Here Finn Jenne was confronted by a man who drove his car in front of the 3F chairman's wife's car.
- Suddenly a car came from behind with a man who made gestures and flashed his headlights. I told my wife to drive on, says Finn Jenne:
- Shortly after, the car overtook us and blocked the road. A man jumped out and ran over and knocked on my wife's driver's side window. I told her to take it easy and not open the car door.
When Finn Jenne's wife did not open the car door for the visibly agitated man, he ran to the passenger side, where Finn Jenne did not open either.
- He knocked on my window, and I made signs to indicate what he wanted, says the 3F chairman.
That helped, because the man pulled away from the car door a little, and Finn Jenne got out of the car.
- What do you want? I asked him.
He replied: "My people have called and said you are taking pictures of them. What is your name?"
- I explained that I take pictures in public places, and that it is usually customary to introduce yourself before asking for your name when you are harassing people, says Finn Jenne.
- He said his name was Niels Strøm. And now he wanted to take a picture of our license plate. He did so. But when I wanted to take a picture of his license plate, he stood in front of it.
After this, the alleged Niels Strøm disappeared again, so that Finn Jenne and his wife could continue.
A file access at DSB shows that the warehouse has been rented out to Nocmarine ApS, and a Niels Peter Strøm Sørensen has signed the contract as a tenant.
3F chairman: More questions are pressing
Today, Finn Jenne sees the process of being looked after as an additional sign that something is wrong.
- I have a problematic relationship with the fact that one's employment relationship is linked to one's home. It also raises questions about what the employees pay to live there. We have seen some very creative employers in the past. From the outside, they are some old office and changing facilities. You can't have people living there, says Finn Jenne and asks several questions:
- We don't know where these people have their address. I hope they have a national registry address here. And is it legal to drive around here in the foreign cars that they do? We see those cars both here and in Skagen. And we also don't know if those people get a wage in accordance with the collective agreement.
- As for M.A.R.S.'s subcontractors, we have no experience or knowledge of their wages, even though most of them here are not organized in 3F. But within scaffolding work, it is Danish companies that get a wage in accordance with the collective agreement, says Finn Jenne.
It is important for the 3F chairman that the foreign workers feel welcome.
- We have nothing against Eastern Europeans coming here and working, but it must be on decent terms. What we have seen at Kragholmen 45 smells a bit like social dumping, says Finn Jenne.
M.A.R.S. director raises housing conditions with Nocmarine
The director of M.A.R.S. Kim Thygesen is not aware of any of the fact that employees from Nocmarine live in buildings that are not permitted for habitation.
- We have nothing to do with their housing, says Kim Thygesen and continues:
- No, I have not heard that they live illegally.
Is this something you want to do something about?
- Yes, you can trust me, I will, says Kim Thygesen.
He also says that M.A.R.S. employs a varying number of employees from Nocmarine for about two years.
- Sometimes it is 30 employees and other times it is only ten people. It depends on which project we are working on, says Kim Thygesen.
DOI.dk has spoken briefly with Nocmarine's director Lissi Signe Pedersen, who also works as a social worker in a Zealand municipality. She confirms that she is the director of Nocmarine - but she refers to her accountant Søren Anthon Thorup Pedersen at Martinsen in Aarhus, who will provide a statement.
DOI.dk has so far tried in vain to get in touch with Søren Anthon Thorup Pedersen.
Photo: Jesper Ernlund Lassen - DOI.dk. 3F chairman Finn Jenne takes it quite calmly that he was looked after when he took pictures of a resident at Kragholmen 45. But he is having a hard time with working and living conditions that are not in order.
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