Ivan from Ukraine almost never gets paid his meagre wage of 5 euros an hour. Serhii is left to fend for himself by his employer after a serious accident at work. VRT’s Pano programme has collected dozens of testimonies during an investigation into the exploitation of foreign workers in Belgium. ‘In nine months, I earned less than 3,000 euros. That's criminal,’ Ivan sighs. His story is just one of many that VRT News collected.
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Roofers Ivan and Serhii exploited in Belgium: ‘They treat pets better than us.’
Colin Clapson
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Ivan's employer did not even pay him 5 euros per hour.
Ivan was living in Ukraine when he decided to look for a better life. He arranged a Polish work permit, but his employer had other plans. ‘When I arrived in Warsaw, the bus to Brussels was already waiting. We didn't even stay in Poland for a day,’ he says.
On the bus, he looked up some information about his destination: Belgium. ‘I didn't know much about it. On the internet, I found Manneken Pis, chocolate and 460 types of beer.’
He ended up at a campsite in Kasterlee (Antwerp Province). It turned out to be a holiday park full of foreign workers, in the middle of the woods. ‘Eight of us lived in one container. But then, I wasn't expecting much luxury.’
According to his employer, he does not need to worry about contracts and visas. His employer would take care of all that. Ivan’s wages were also agreed: Ivan would earn 5 euros per hour as a roofer.
‘I didn't know at the time that I would be earning much less than the minimum wage. 5 euros per hour is already five times more than I would earn in Ukraine. So I was satisfied. After nine months of work, I would be able to send 10,000 to 12,000 euros home because I worked so much.’
However, he never saw that money: ‘Occasionally, we would receive 20 or 50 euros, sometimes 100. That was it. In nine months, I earned just under 3,000 euros. I can only describe this as criminal,’ Ivan concludes.
‘Working 22 hours a day was no exception,’ say Slovakian cleaning ladies
‘We were promised an apartment and free accommodation. We would sleep in that apartment with a maximum of four women and have to work seven to eight hours a day.’
Two Slovakian women decide to take the risk. They start working as self-employed cleaners in the seaside resort of Ostend (West Flanders) and end up in an apartment with eight women in total.
‘Sometimes we worked up to 22 hours. Not always, of course, but it did happen. I never worked less than 13 hours a day for three months, seven days a week.’
Serhii ended up in a coma after an accident at work, his employer disappeared
Serhii, from Ukraine, also works in Belgium via a Polish construction company. Until he fell from a roof while working and ended up in hospital. ‘Everything was shattered. My collarbone and left arm were broken. The latter was put back together with iron.’
Serhii was in a coma for no less than 33 days. There was no trace of his employer, who had not insured him for such accidents.
Now, five years later, Serhii still finds it difficult to put on his shoes. Without insurance, he was unable to undergo rehabilitation. ‘Everything hurts. Every day. I've got used to it now and hope that I'll be able to work again someday. I don't know if that will happen. I feel disabled.’
‘What they did to me, they don't even do to animals in Europe. Pets are still taken care of and treated, but I was just left behind. My employer hoped I would die. If there's no human being, there's no problem, of course.’
‘I don't know if you can still call them human beings. There's nothing human about them,’ Serhii concludes.