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Article

17 Aug 2017

Author:
Ana Maria Dima, Opendemocracy

EU: Reports find workers from eastern Europe face low wages & exploitative working conditions

"The other side of Europe: the exploitation of Romanian workers in the EU", 18 May 2017

[W]hile the economic consolidation of the EU has made it possible to move between labour markets, it has not closed the spaces in which and mechanisms through which exploitation flourishes, even in the case of EU citizens themselves... The companies and societies of western Europe reap huge benefits from the work performed by their eastern counterparts under conditions and at a price point that few in-country nationals would accept... Subcontracting recruiters, employed by some of Europe’s largest companies, contribute to perpetuating practices that are detrimental towards EU employees from the eastern side of the continent... For many western European companies and countries, the work of EU migrant labourers brings benefit and profit, without, it seems, challenging the mindsets that make ‘the other side of the EU’ an acceptable source of exploitable and cheap labour.