European Central: Slave Conditions in Serbia on Chinese construction site
Through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has invested in infrastructure across the globe. As part of the initiative, Linglong, a Chinese tire company is building a tire factory in Serbia. The project is worth 900 million dollars, and has been touted as the largest green-field investment in Serbia. This specific project however has caught the attention of activists who claim workers building the factory are working in slave-like conditions. Currently, 500 Vietnamese workers are building the factory. Serbia’s most important soccer team is also officially called Linglong super liga after the company sponsored the team. The Serbian government is very enthusiastic about the arrival of Linglong but the company may be causing problems for the country.
Conditions for Vietnamese workers are thought to be dire. For the 400-500 workers, the water tank where the workers are housed is the size big enough only for a family of 4-5 people. This leaves the workers without hot water. The workers also have access to only two bathrooms Tomislav Momirović, the Serbian Minister of Construction, Traffic and Infrastructure placed the blame on the workers. He claimed that the workers were paid enough to live elsewhere. It is alarming that rather than investigate the rights of these workers, Serbian politicians seem more concerned on not upsetting Linglong. NIN, a Serbian magazine alleged that the Vietnamese workers are convicted criminals who are building the factory in order to reduce their sentences. This statement however was written by the magazine without any evidence of this being the case. Even if they were getting their sentences reduced in exchange for building the factory, this does not excuse poor work conditions. It is obvious that two bathrooms and a small water heater are not enough for 400-500 workers. AP journalists have also been informed that the workers have no identity documents as the employers took them.
The fact that China decided to bring Vietnamese workers to build the factory raises some red flags. A more nefarious explanation for China choosing to bring Vietnamese workers is the language barrier. Vietnamese and Serbian are completely separate languages that are not mutually intelligible. This would make it harder for workers to complain about their work conditions, which means it is easier for them to be exploited. Serbia has significantly lower wages than most of Europe, but instead of using local workers China used workers it could pay even lower wages. It is understandable Serbia sees this factory as a major investment in the country, but it should have insisted local workers be used. 500 Serbian construction workers could have been earning money in order to build the tire factory, particularly important when the country had an unemployment rate of 10.5 percent in September of 2021. It is estimated that investors earn 50,000 euros for every job created in Serbia yet workers only earn 400-500 euros.
Serbia has been called the Bangladesh of Europe as both countries work hard to attract foreign investments, but workers do not necessarily benefit themselves from this investment. Linglong will spend 900 million dollars on the project, yet the Vietnamese workers were only paid a month of wages. While it is estimated that the factory will have 1,000 workers once operational, Serbia should be concerned if Linglong will hire Serbian workers or will continue to exploit Vietnamese workers. In 2018, Serbia agreed to allow Chinese workers to be exempt from pensions contributions. Chinese workers are also not protected on Serbian labor laws.
Besides worker rights, there are considerable environmental concerns as well with the factory. The factory is located in Zrenjanin, one of Serbia’s most polluted towns. The town has had no safe drinking water since 2004. It appears that Linglong is not concerned with preventing future environmental damage in Zrenjanin as work has been carried out without environmental studies or permits. Serbia also donated 96 hectares of land that could have were suitable for farming, now instead will be used to produce tires.
While Linglong seems to not be bothered by potentially contributing to the environmental woes of Zrenjanin, what is worse is that Serbia’s government seems to willingly accept it in order to get the factory built. Local activists were barred from attending a meeting discussing the potential environmental impact of the factory, making it appear as if there is something the government wants to hide. If a construction project is abiding by all laws and regulations meetings discussing the impact of the project would be a space for the government to brag about this and put the minds of critics at ease. NGOs allege that the project has been worked on without proper permits and environmental studies.
It is understandable that Serbia desires economic growth, but it has to step back and analyze whether this growth is helping workers or if it only makes the country look good on paper. As the project currently stands, it risks the latter. Not only Serbia but every country has a responsibility to not allow guest workers to be abused.
