500 Vietnamese forced laborers in Chinese factory in Serbia have only two toilets, report says

About 500 migrant workers from Vietnam are being exploited at a Chinese-run company in Serbia, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) reported last week.

The summary: The workers, who have been hired to build a tire factory in Zrenjanin, a town in the northern province of Vojvodina, are said to do so under conditions that could be life threatening, according to NGOs. When the job was done, they would move to cramped dormitories, where they would face even more problems such as lack of food, water and clothing.

The allegations come from A11, which defends workers’ rights, and ASTRA, which fights against human trafficking. Both NGOs said they were denied access to workers in their attempts to contact them.
The workers are officially hired by the China Energy Engineering Group Tianjin Electric Power Construction Co. Ltd., which is registered in Belgrade. The company, in turn, was hired by Shandong Linglong Tire, a Chinese tire maker that was subsidized by the Serbian government.
The workers, whose passports were also reportedly confiscated, were recruited for 12-month contracts by the Vietnamese employment agency Song Hy Gia Lai Company Ltd., which demanded between $ 2,200 and $ 4,000 from each candidate. in exchange for their services. However, their contracts were written in English, which only one of the workers understood, ASTRA’s Tina Piskulidis told the Balkan Investigation Reporting Network (BIRN).
Under the contract, each worker is required to work nine hours a day for 26 days a month. This means that they work 234 hours per month, which violates the provisions of the labor law of Serbia. Anyone who misses at least one day of work will not be paid for a full month. Failure to work on time also results in denial of daily wages.
According to NGOs, no personal protective equipment is provided to workers, while the costs of some of their work equipment are even deducted from their wages. To make matters worse, these payments often arrive late.
Lack of food has forced some workers to hunt nearby animals, according to BIRN. In addition to hunger and lack of clean water, they live in overcrowded rooms with only two toilets available for the 500 of them.
The workers also reportedly requested COVID-19 vaccines, but their employer refused, saying the process was complicated. Instead, anyone who falls ill is isolated in a makeshift hospital room until they recover.

What stakeholders are saying: Linglong Tire denied the law violations and claimed that workers’ passports were only taken for document processing. Meanwhile, Serbian leaders – including President Aleksandar Vucic – have called the allegations an attack on budding Serbia-China ties.

Serbia, which is currently under a populist administration, has strengthened bilateral ties with China by allowing Chinese investment and essentially becoming a European link in Beijing’s expansion plans. China, in turn, has provided billions of dollars in loans to Serbia to finance Chinese companies involved in such projects, AP News reported.
In a statement, Linglong Tire said passports were seized to process temporary residence, work permit and vaccination preparation documents. “Passports must be returned to workers as soon as all necessary permits are collected. At any time, if there is a need, anyone can come and collect their passport. There is no question of confiscating someone’s passport, ”the company said. BIRTH.
Linglong Tire denied that the workers had poor living and working conditions and insisted that their wages, corresponding to the number of hours worked, be paid on time. Yet the company reportedly blamed the situation on contractors and employment agencies in Vietnam.
Serbian officials spoke out against the workers’ conditions but downplayed Chinese responsibility. Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, for her part, said she would not rule out the attack on Linglong Tire coming from “those who oppose Chinese investments” in the country, according to AP News. President Vucic, who announced the deployment of a labor manager to the site, asked, “What do they want? Do they want us to destroy a $ 900 million investment? “
Many Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) called for action to end “modern slavery” in Serbia. In a statement, they said they were “appalled” by the information and urged the Serbian authorities to “react immediately to these flagrant violations of workers’ rights and human dignity”.