Foreign workers have become a regular presence on the construction sites and on the streets of Romania. Although their number has increased spectacularly in recent years, contributing to the economic development of the country, we still meet them with insufficient laws to protect them from abuse, with unprepared authorities and unions that ignore them. Panorama talked to institutions, trade unionists and experts to explore the scale of labor migration, the problems they face and how it affects us.
The number of migrant workers globally reached 169 million in 2019, up 19 million from 2013, according to a report published by the International Labor Organization (ILO). In other words, for every 100 workers, about five are immigrants. Of these, almost a third end up in Europe, and over 13 million in Eastern Europe.
In Romania, the appetite for foreign workers has grown steadily in recent years. If in 2013, the Government approved 5,500 work visas, this is the third consecutive year in which 100,000 new visas for migrants are approved.
Just as we have a law that protects Romanian workers abroad, imposes transparency and information conditions on recruitment agencies, subjects them to the control of labor inspectors and sets fines between 5,000 and 40,000 lei for those who violate them, so we should have one for the foreigners who come to Romania, says the labor law expert.
lthough foreign workers are taxed by the state, in practice they do not have the same rights as Romanian workers. They should have unrestricted access to health services. In reality, this right becomes tangible only after obtaining the unique permit, a procedure that can take over four months.
At the beginning of the year, the press reported the case of a Filipino nanny who had no report card for half a year. After Immigration officials repeatedly postponed her appointment. Although she had been living in Romania for over five years. The lack of an identity document did not allow her to send money home and made her fear that she could be expelled from the country.
“Romania is one of the few European countries that does not send workers home shortly after the termination of the employment contract. It gives them another chance to stay, precisely to prevent abuses by employers,” says the labor law expert, Felicia Roșioru.
The content of this article is taken from the Panorama.ro website, click here to read the entire article.
©2023. ARCA All Rights Reserved.
