As migrant numbers grow, anti-trafficking organisations and trade unions are raising the alarm over widespread exploitation of foreign workers in Lithuania’s labour market.
“The same migrants keep coming to us – support organisations and trade unions – in droves, already exploited and seeking help,” Kristina Mišinienė, head of the Centre Against Human Trafficking and Exploitation, said at a news conference in parliament last week.
Trade unions say that third-country nationals who leave their families at home in the hope of earning money in Lithuania are having their passports or residence permits taken away at work, being assigned jobs different from those agreed, and subjected to excessive overtime and fines.
Contracts with foreign workers are reportedly drawn up only in Lithuanian. In some cases, employers use contracts for services rather than employment contracts, leaving migrants who decide to quit their jobs in debt.
A lawmaker from the ruling Democrats “For Lithuania” party has pledged to tackle the exploitation of foreign workers.
“Society has every reason to be concerned, because migration figures are indeed high. We will take very serious steps to put migration policy in order and regulate it sensibly,” said MP Tomas Tomilinas.
Fines, overtime and deductions from wages
Audrius Cuzanauskas, head of the Trade Union Alliance, said at the news conference that third-country nationals arriving in Lithuania faced financial pressure.
He described the case of a Brazilian man employed by the logistics company Rosteka, whose contract with his employer stipulated that he would owe €10,000 if he failed to work for the company for two years.
According to Cuzanauskas, another migrant owes €265,000 to a company operating in Lithuania over various alleged breaches of workplace rules imposed by the employer.
“Individual cases are so brutal, and we only learn about individual cases. But there are hundreds of thousands of such cases, because when we look at the arrival of migrant workers in Lithuania and the numbers involved, we also see how frequently they leave.
“Thirty to 40% of people flee the country because they cannot endure the working conditions and exploitation,” Cuzanauskas said.
He added that foreign workers were also being exploited at large, well-known companies, where they were made to work undeclared overtime.
“For example, they work at the poultry plants in Vilnius or Kaišiadorys. According to the documents, their work schedules involve 200–328 hours a month working in a refrigerated facility,” Cuzanauskas said.
He said foreign workers who experienced exploitation often did not know where to seek help and faced language barriers.
Andrius Markevičius, head of the Filipino Community in Lithuania, said migrants often did not receive payslips, making it impossible for them to check what deductions were being made from their wages and why.
He added that employers frequently took away workers’ passports and temporary residence permits. “People are extremely vulnerable and intimidated,” Markevičius said.
Wrong contracts
Emilis Starodubovas, head of the May 1 Trade Union (G1PS), said some employers signed contracts for services rather than employment contracts with their workers.
According to him, these contracts were written only in Lithuanian, and workers were not allowed to keep a copy or take a photograph of the document.
Starodubovas described a case in which an employee who had signed such a contract decided to leave the job lawfully. The employer responded by issuing what Starodubovas called an official pre-trial ultimatum.
“When we read this document, we find that it is not the company that owes money to the employee, but the employee who owes money to the company and is expected to pay a fine for the losses incurred,” Starodubovas said at the news conference.
‘We will take this issue very seriously’
“Employers can see that impunity is thriving in Lithuania,” Cuzanauskas said.
He argued that the Lithuanian Transport Safety Administration, the Employment Service, the State Labour Inspectorate and other institutions were failing to provide adequate protection for foreign workers’ rights.
“These violations would not happen if inspections were carried out and the violations identified,” the Trade Union Alliance chairman stressed.
Representatives of the organisations said institutions overseeing labour migration should improve foreign workers’ access to legal assistance, enabling them to defend their interests more effectively against employers who can afford to hire lawyers.
“Institutions need to strengthen their expertise so that cases of exploitation can be recognised and described for what they are, rather than being treated as employment relationships,” said Aurelija Baltikauskaitė, head of the Human Rights Office at the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office.
Tomilinas said migration policy “needs more order” and pledged to look for ways to prevent the exploitation of people in the labour market.
“We will start working on this issue very seriously,” the MP said, but did not outline any specific proposals.
According to the Migration Department, nearly 227,000 foreign nationals held residence permits in Lithuania as of September 1. About 108,000 of them had permits on the basis of employment, down from around 175,000 at the beginning of the year.
Businesses, particularly in the logistics sector, have repeatedly called for an increase in the quota for bringing in unskilled foreign workers. The quota of 24,700 approved for this year was exhausted on September 7.
The Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists estimates that unfilled vacancies could cost the country between €100m and €150m in lost gross domestic product (GDP) this year, rising to around €550m in 2027.
LRT English
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