In recent years, Romania has been facing an acute labour shortage. The effect of massive emigration, but also of very low wages and unfriendly working conditions for workers, a number of production sectors have been left uncovered from a labour perspective. Thus, the solution has been to import labour from countries such as Vietnam, China, Nepal, Sri Lanka and others.
Foreign workers are employed in a variety of jobs, from agriculture, welding, meat processing, services, to operating complex machinery in production units. It's a lucrative business for both employers and recruiters, who earn, on average, about €400 per imported worker. In their countries of origin, immigrants pay monthly fees to recruitment firms. On the ground in South-East Asia, firms lure workers with the promise of a contract in Europe and the EU, and there is no shortage of willing workers, with local wages as low as $100 or $200 a month. Of these, Vietnamese, hard-working, supportive and disciplined workers are in great demand on the Romanian labour market. To find out more about them and this topic, we spoke to Alin Danci, director of a foreign labour recruitment company in Cluj.
In recent years, more and more workers from Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka have come to Romania. How come these workers come to Romania? Why don't they go to countries closer to them?
First of all, salaries are much more attractive in Romania than in China and Arab countries, but not in all areas. There are certain sectors where they are very much in demand and well paid, especially in welding. China doesn't offer any more relaxed or clear working hours. However, Vietnamese workers want to work more, more than the 8 hours a day and 5 days a week. Now, as an aside, as for the desire to work I have seen that they are much more disciplined than the Nepalese. Although Nepalese are also very hard workers and adapt easily. For example, in Cluj, at Gormet they have over 90 Vietnamese workers. They started learning Romanian and they adapted very well and integrated into the Romanian environment. I think they will stay beyond the two years of their contract. I mean, you have a two-year contract and you can choose to extend it or go back to your home country.
How does this recruitment process for foreign workers work?
You basically go to a recruitment company, sign a contract. In the letter of intent you say what kind of staff you need, for what kind of job, the salary you offer and the working conditions. Then you offer accommodation and three meals a day, compulsory. You go to the recruitment company in Romania or in the workers' country of origin. They will prepare a selection, sending you some CVs of people, and you choose your people for interview. Then the second step is the interview. At the interview you have work samples or discussions. The interview is in Vietnam, because although you can do it on skype, it is not recommended. Then, after you have selected them, you make the arrangements in Romania to bring them, and the company in Vietnam makes the arrangements to get the documents. The procedures are done at the same time. Very important, you must have a certificate from AJOFM stating that 0 is the number of Romanian workers who have applied for the jobs that you put out to tender for Vietnamese workers.
What areas do the Vietnamese workers come from? Have you noticed any particular recruitment pool?
All over Vietnam. It also depends on the occupation, but mainly from the areas around the big cities. It's important to have been close to the cities, because that's the only way they get work experience. Employers want to see that they have worked in the trade and have experience. Then, those who come from villages, from rural areas, work mainly in agriculture. I was in Vietnam. And I visited some vocational schools. They are prepared. They are communists. They apply the same system that we applied in the old regime. They're trained in an education procedure we're familiar with. They work in the trades they specialize in. They don't really change their field of work and their profession.
Are there any duties that Vietnamese workers have to pay to the state from the wages they earn in Romania? Or to whom do they pay?
No, but I believe they pay a monthly contribution to the companies that select them. It's a communist system there, but it's much more open, like in China. The monthly contribution is to the intermediary company, not to the state directly. They are private companies, authorized by the state, with authorized documents, etc... I didn't feel that the state has an aggressive policy towards them. In recent years we have imported different types of professional profiles: in agriculture, butchers, welders, construction, etc...
Is there a possibility to import other types of workers from Vietnam? Can we, for example, also import highly skilled labour?
There are, but they are much more expensive and I don't know if the wage level would not exceed the level we offer here. And for unskilled and semi-skilled labor many of the wages are quite high, somewhere around $600, cash in hand plus taxes. Those are pretty good wages. And I'm talking about butchers now. In Romania, as long as you have a big labour problem, as an employer you're fine to pay that wage, because you can't help it. But the advantage from an employer's perspective is that you have a fixed cost for two years. It doesn't vary. Plus they don't leave after three months. As long as you as an employer fulfill your duties, they will do the same.The law has been changed that obliges the employer to pay the immigrant worker the average wage. Now they can be paid the minimum wage.
Do you think wages for immigrants will change? Will they go down? Or, as employers say, since they have made contracts with a certain wage, it cannot change, and in the long run they cannot offer different wages to people who come from the same places, do the same work and work in the same place?
Exactly, that's the way it is. Basically, you set some conditions, which are also approved by the state where the workers come from, in this case, the Vietnamese state. And things can't change. Then, as it works, before I make the selection from Vietnam, I have to get a certificate from the AJOFM, whereby they prove that there are no Romanian workers who would like to take that job. That is, that there are no applications registered at AJOFM for those jobs, by those who would be qualified to fill those positions. It is a protectionist measure for the local, indigenous workforce. So, once a salary has been set, that is the one that remains? We're talking about the situation where employers had workers on the job at the time the law was passed, and there it is. Wages don't change. But, in the conditions in which you now want to select, there will probably be companies that will ask for higher wages, as they know the conditions in Romania. If the butcher here gets 700 dollars, then they try to get a higher salary. With monthly commissions, it's important to set higher wages for workers.
Do you know how wages have evolved in the sectors where immigrants work?
I haven't followed this issue scientifically. From what I have observed, Romanian employers, having no other solutions on the labour market, resort to the option of importing workers from Vietnam, who have a certain cost, wages. But, they offer you a guarantee that those costs will not increase for a certain period of time. Then, many companies prefer to offer a higher salary, accommodation and meals, with the guarantee that they will not be blackmailed by the workers, that tomorrow they won't come, that they will go elsewhere, that they will emigrate. Then they (the employers) prefer to have higher costs, but have the guarantee that they can make some plans for the next period's production. For example, I have a client who has a chicken farm and supplies raw material for KFC. He is having real problems meeting his contract because of the workers. He can't find them, and the ones he says he can't rely on. It's very hard to manage them. He can now bring in Vietnamese workers, for which the cost per total is higher, but he is guaranteed to be able to meet his orders and has predictable and stable costs.
How did we get into importing from countries like Nepal and Vietnam? Why from there?
I think, at least Vietnam, being a communist country, workers there have a much higher respect for work, they are much more disciplined. I know this about the Vietnamese, because I haven't worked much with the Sri Lankans and Nepalese, so I can't express myself. Probably the standard of living in those countries also contributed to the attraction for Romania. Past collaborations have probably also helped. Now we know that Romania had good relations with Vietnam under communism. Then there's also a question of mentality. For example, Latin Americans have a different attitude and they probably aim directly at the United States.
How is the demand for foreign workers? Will more workers come this year?
Yes, the demand is very high. And, I hope it will be a big wake-up call for the Romanian workforce. In the sense that, we had a period where we had an exodus of labour from Romania and there were many young people from disadvantaged families or from different places, where they didn't have access to education and didn't improve in any field. They were stuck in a bubble from which they could not get out. They entered the labour market, but without being able to improve their skills. We have the typical worker who comes to work when and how he feels like it and sees the job as something optional from which he gets an income to live on for a certain period. They work according to the season, and in the summer and spring production drops off a lot in the production units, because workers leave to do seasonal work and don't come to work. In my opinion, there is no respect for work on the part of employees and that is why wages are so low. I think that Romanian workers don't really want to evolve to be able to claim a salary of 5000 lei per month. I believe that an employer will offer 5000 lei a month to a skilled worker who will not leave him alone. Then, if we think of Romanian workers abroad, if they draw the line at the end of the month, paying rent there and having expenses in the West, I don't know if they are left with the income that a Vietnamese stays with in Romania. Honestly, I don't think it would be a problem if a Romanian worker came to an employer and said he wanted to work for sure for two years, but with the condition that he would get room and board. I have a friend in Floresti, who has a butcher's shop, and he is building a block where he will accommodate his next employees. He will bring them from Moldova, from Romania. He's already offering room and board. So there is this practice.
Are you thinking of diversifying the countries from which you bring workers?
There are plans, but at the moment we have nothing definite, we haven't acted yet. We are in discussions with partners in South America, but we are still reluctant. I don't know to what extent they will be as productive as those in Vietnam. At the moment I'm looking at the labour supply in Chile. But I have also had discussions with a company in Peru, but nothing has materialised yet.
At what wages would we bring them from Latin America? The same or higher?
About the same wages. In some areas they really have higher demands than Vietnamese. For example, the minimum wage for an unskilled worker in Vietnam is $530 a month plus taxes. Welding, metalworking, and in occupations involving intellectual work are the best paid. For example, CNC machine programmers (machines in factories programmed to do various operations), where wages already exceed $1000. You have to know how to program, how to enter code. We have not yet imported such workers, because there is not yet such a great need as there is for production workers.
From your point of view, what is Romania's long-term migration strategy? How will foreign workers who want to settle here be received?
Well, we are different cultures. Then the distance is very big. I don't know. Then, the truth is that recruitment firms there don't talk so much about Romania, as about Europe. They talk about Europe, the European Union, Romania is such a star. That means a lot to them. Anyway, the salary in Vietnam is 100 or 200 dollars a month. If you can double or triple your salary and you don't have expenses for accommodation, meals and transportation, then you think about coming to work here. (The Romanian employer pays for the round-trip transportation of the workers, and every two years, even if the Vietnamese employee extends his contract, the Romanian employer has to pay for a return trip to Vietnam).
What do employment contracts for Vietnamese look like? Are they standard?
With Vietnam and Nepal there are standard two-year contracts with the possibility of extension. But you have to offer a return trip after two years. A family holiday. There are employers who are willing to bring their families. I'm sure there have been discussions, but I think that's already happened. You have to understand that they are not housed somewhere isolated from the community. And they want to integrate and learn Romanian. They have football teams, they go fishing. It's not just work and home.
On that subject, is there a contractual obligation for decent living conditions here in Romania?
Yes. After you submit the documents, initially when you make the selection, you send the documents to the collaborators in Vietnam. When you send the documents, you also send photos of the place where they will be accommodated, as well as photos of the workplace and the description of the work they will be doing. You send them videos, pictures of what they will have to do, the working environment. This is the first step. The second step, after you have sent the documents to immigration, they come to visit, to check the accommodation. We had one of our clients who wanted a bigger room, with more beds, and Immigration said no. You don't get the opinion if you don't do that. Then there are checks after the workers arrive in Romania too. There is a control. It's not slave labour, and employers and employees know that. They don't live in fear that they will come here and be imprisoned or that their documents will be taken away. Well, the truth is that there have been employers who have tried to cheat and not give them the promised salary or cut more hours worked. But, they are banding together and going on strike.
Are they in solidarity?
Yes, they are very united. Usually, with more than 5 people you have a team leader, who coordinates them, is an advanced foreign language speaker, has more work experience. Basically, he is a specialist, who also coordinates, represents and organises them. He is also offered a higher salary. The employer chooses this team leader. He is also responsible for coordinating the team.
What are the most common problems they have here?
The first problem is language. With food they have adapted. The truth is that I haven't encountered any serious cases. Maybe only those who have problems with employers who don't respect their obligations.
Are they protected by the Romanian state institutions in this case?
Of course. You as an employer have the same obligations towards them as you have towards the Romanians. Then the Vietnamese know their rights. They have a clear contract. They know their income. Plus the Vietnamese Embassy gets involved if there's a serious situation. They have strong consular support.
We saw that last year more than 10,000 foreign workers arrived in Romania, and this year the import quota was increased to 20,000. How do you feel about that number? Will they be enough?
I don't know if the quota will be exceeded. Anyway, the demand is high, but there are also reluctant employers, because they don't know if they can sustain the costs for two years. Although, for example, Gormet has made it clear that if they didn't have the workers from Vietnam, they would have closed the company, they wouldn't have been able to stay in the market.
Out of curiosity, how much does a brokerage firm earn per worker in Romania?
It depends on the type of worker you bring in. Around 400 euros, something like that. That's in Romania. The firm in Vietnam gets a monthly commission, but also has expenses.
How does the procedure work? What are the documents needed?
A file includes all kinds of documents: application from the employer, proof that the company has no debts to the state for the previous year, certificate from AJOFM that there were no local applications for the job, firm offer of employment, then all documents from the Vietnamese worker, such as CV, criminal record, identity documents, etc... This is what a standard file includes, but also some other documents. Until last year and for Vietnam you had to super-legalize documents, but it took a lot of time, as these legalizations were done in two different countries. But that's not the case anymore. An official delegation, even the Vietnamese Minister of Labour met with the Romanian Minister of Labour and negotiated a protocol, which was signed in December. The procedure has become much simpler.
