Exploited workers demand pay

About 120 people gathered outside the Agriculture Ministry March 27 to voice outrage at the government bodies they say are partially responsible for the exploitation of foreign laborers who worked state land from 2008 to 2010 without being paid.

As The Prague Post reported March 9, workers from Vietnam, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine allege that the companies Affumicata and Wood Servis Praha hired them to provide labor in state-owned forests and then did not pay them. David Mrkoš, the former head of Affumicata, denies these claims.

Among the demonstrators March 27 were 10 Vietnamese workers once employed by Affumicata.

"I worked in the forests in Klatovy and Ústí nad Labem," said Nguyen Van Tuan, who came to the Czech Republic in 2008 to work in the forest. "We signed a contract, and I worked for two months. In two months, I didn't get a single crown."

Another worker, Nguyen Van Ben, said he worked for Affumicata for two months, one in Klatovy and another in Ustí nad Labem. He said he was initially promised a salary of 70 Kč per hour. The salary was later amended to 2 Kč per tree that he planted.

For his first week of work, he got 500 Kč, a bag of rice and two "spoiled-chickens," Nguyen said, estimating that Affumicata owes him 30,000 Kč in unpaid wages.

Officials at the state-owned forestry management company Lesy ČR deny responsibility for the incidents, saying the case refers to work provided by a secondary subcontractor.

Asked for comment in the wake of the protest, Lesy ČR provided a press release. The statement said the organization "is not indifferent to the news, according to which several foreign workers carrying out work in the forest have probably not received proper and legally guaranteed wages."

They went on to say that the workers were not employed by Lesy ČR and that Lesy is not responsible for the work conditions of subcontractors.

The March 27 rally drew a variety of people and organizations. A number of NGOs joined the march, including the Initiative for Migrant Rights, No to Racism, La Strada and the environmental group Hnutí DUHA.

Outside the ministry a banner read, "Foreigners are not disposable," while another read "Forefather Čech was also an immigrant."

"[The ministry] does not care about the conditions under which people in the Czech Republic work," said Pavel Čižinský from the Initiative for Migrant Rights, when asked why he was participating.

"The scale of this exploitation concerns hundreds of people and millions of crowns," added Elena Tulupová, also from the Initiative for Migrant Rights and herself an immigrant.

Following a series of speeches, a symbolic tree was planted outside the ministry. A march then made its way from the Agriculture Ministry along and across the Vltava, up to Letná and on to the Interior Ministry, the government body responsible for immigration policy.

"Let me first clarify that the Agriculture Ministry is a founder of Lesy ČR, but this state enterprise has its own management, which is responsible for running the company," said Tereza Dvořáková, an Agriculture Ministry spokeswoman.

"Moreover, in this particular case, foreign workers were contracted by third parties, and Lesy ČR - let alone the ministry - has very limited possibilities to interfere with contractual relations."

Dvořáková did call the situation "regrettable," before adding, "The Agriculture Ministry is neither one of the employers nor an authority that should track down and hold liable employers committing such a malfeasance."

Ryan Scott can be reached at
features@praguepost.com