- We were always given the worst work assignments, and if you asked critical questions, you were fired.
This is what 30-year-old Polish electrician Malgorzata Kosior, who has worked as a temporary worker in the Danish construction industry for four years, tells the trade magazine Elektrikeren.
Malgorzata Kosior, who is now a permanent employee in a Danish company with a collective agreement and Danish colleagues, nods in recognition of several of the conclusions that appear in a new report from Aalborg University, which documents the conditions for foreign labor in the construction industry. The Danish Electricity Association writes this in a press release.
According to the report 'Migrant workers' working environment and safety in the construction and construction industry', foreign workers consistently perform the most dangerous, degrading and dirty work. Occupational accidents are rarely reported, wages are not paid, and there are reports of threats of violence and human trafficking.
Just getting access to the most common aids for daily work can be a challenge, Malgorzata Kosior tells the trade magazine Elektrikeren.
– As a woman, I wear size seven work gloves, but at the temporary employment agency we had to fight to get any work gloves at all. At one point we had to work on a construction site where the basement was filled with water. We waited three weeks to get rubber boots, and until then we had to work in the wet basements in ordinary shoes. Danish electricians had never come to terms with that.
The research report also says that housing provided to migrant workers by employers causes dissatisfaction. The migrant workers almost unanimously describe the housing provided as inadequate, cold and overcrowded with insufficient access to a bathroom and kitchen. Many share rooms and even beds with other migrant workers.
– For some of the migrant workers, it becomes a bit of a vicious spiral, where the employer ends up having them in the palm of his hand. You get an employer who gets you a bed and takes care of everything with a bank account, tax card, MitID, etc. If you are also bad at English, then that relationship creates a dependency on the employer, who 'takes care of everything', explains Robert Olejnik, who was born in Poland and currently works as a professional consultant at the Danish Electricians' Association in Copenhagen, and elaborates on how wrong it can go:
- We have seen several examples of migrant workers who are fired being subsequently evicted from their homes or accommodation despite the fact that they have paid for the housing and, according to the Tenancy Act, have one month's notice.
According to the research report, supervision of migrant workers in Denmark is difficult, as they are often ordered to stop work, leave the premises or hide when the Danish Working Environment Authority arrives.
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