Language barriers, cultural differences, lack of social relationships in Romania, lack of union representation, as well as the absence of information related to the social benefits they should have as employees in Romania – these factors transform foreign workers in easy prey for some public servants/employers willing to take advantage of their immigrant status, shows “Immigrant in Romania: Perspectives and Risks”, study launched by Soros Foundation Romania on Tuesday, October 14, 2008.

The Romanian reality (work hours, salaries, working conditions etc.) is, in many cases, very different from the expectations the immigrants were building based on information offered to them before signing the individual employment agreement. For instance, in some cases, workers are forced to pay meal & accommodation services, without being offered an opt-out clause.
 “Only when we arrived in Romania and we have met the employers, we understood that from the 400$ (salary) we have to pay food and accommodation […] In the first month we worked hard overtime, but when we received the paycheck we saw they had took 165$ for housing and food, and the overtime was not at all included. When we asked why, they showed us the contract and we then saw a 500 pieces/day rate, and a team as ours could not possibly do more than half that norm per day. In textile industry the daily quotas are widely known, and nobody, nowhere, has imposed on us such quotas before”, explain two Asian immigrants, R.A. and V.I.

Many of the foreign workers interviewed for the study say that, after one year of work, they find themselves in a situation to not even be able to pay back the debts made to come to Romania.
Moreover, they do not benefit of many political and social rights Romanian citizens are enjoying. For instance, immigrants are not represented by unions, and too often they are forced to create their own syndication forms, in an attempt to defend their rights in front of their employers.

„In order for immigrants’ rights to be respected, certain structures should be established, with the main objective to eradicate any and all tentatives and forms of abuse or exploitation, in parallel with informing immigrants on the potential risks and on the rights/obligations they have during their stay in Romania”, reads sociologist Simina Guga, one of the Soros study authors.

According to official statistics, the total number of immigrants in Romania is over 65,000 , but in the near future it is estimated that more and more immigrants will arrive, to fill the gaps on the labor-force market in Romania. Both unions, as well as employers’ associations share the opinion that the labor-force market in Romania, at least on some sgments, suffers blockages generated by lack of qualified workers.

Labor legislation does not support the compensation of the worker deficit by bringing in foreign workers. When employing a immigrant, both the migrant and the employer must pay extra-fees to the state, no matter the activity field ; this is demotivating for both parties.

Companies are, practically, left on their own. The Romanian state has no bilateral agreements with other countries and there is no sign of Romanian state’s interest in facilitating the efforts of recruiting agencies. On the contrary, one might say their efforts are hindered by intricate legislation and red tape.

“Immigration is the only solution, on short and medium term, identified by the main actors in the field (unions and employers’ associations), for covering the labor-force deficit – but is also the solution with the most associated risks. Therefore, a national policy on immigration become necessary, in order to cover the labor-force deficit in a legal manner, but also to insure the protection of immigrants’ rights”, concludes the coordinator of Soros Foundation Romania’s program “Migration and Development”, Mihaela Stefanescu.

The study is part of the Migration and development  program, and it is a continuation of the „Labor market and immigration” (2007) study. Data was collected through calitative methods such as „face to face” interview and case study. A total of 40 people were interviewed: immigrants of different nationalities and representatives of the following fields: unions, employers’associations, public authorities, NGOs working in immigration. Also three case studies were conducting on companies hiring immigrants.  The research was conducted between August 1 – October 1, 2008.
The project’s team was composed of: Simina Guga (sociologist), Georgiana Toth (sociolog), Delia Bobirsc (sociolog), Ovidiu Voicu (Program Manager, Soros Foundation) and Mihaela Stefanescu (Program Coordinator, Soros Foundation).