German labor unions start to change their opinion about Romanian, Bulgarian, Polish and Lithuanian immigrants that choose to work in Germany. They consider them colleagues and not competitors and act against their exploitation. – Deutsche Welle
Numerous immigrants are forced to work in precarious conditions and are badly paid and some of them don’t know their rights and are being exploited by their contractors, thus Deutsche Welle confirms the fact that the German Labor Union Federation is fighting against this phenomenon.
The promise for a better life attracts a lot of Romanians, Bulgarians, Polish and Lithuanian workers in the transport, construction and hotel business, states Dominique John, the coordinator of the German Labor Union Federation’s project “Correct Mobility. Through this program numerous information centers have been established in order to inform immigrants about their rights.
According to a more recent study conducted by the DW, numerous east-European immigrants benefit from the same working conditions as their German colleagues have: “We still believe that some companies abuse foreign workers systematically, offering smaller salaries and bad working conditions.â€
“It all comes down to the principle of solidarity. Solidarity and justice are principles that the union valuesâ€
This approach, that immigrants are colleagues not competitors in the labor market is quite new, underlines Norbert Cyrus, from the Institute for Social Studies in Hamburg. His opinion is that methods need to be further developed to help and prevent work exploitation.
Source of the article here
