Vietnamese Workers at Chinese Factory in Serbia Cry for Help
https://www.voanews.com/a/vietnamese-workers-at-chinese-factory-in-serbia-cry-for-help/6321688.html
Excerpt:
They are shivering in barracks without heat, going hungry and have no money. They say their passports have been taken by their Chinese employer and that they are now stuck in Serbia with no help from local authorities.
These are the Vietnamese workers who are helping build the first Chinese car tire factory in Europe. The Associated Press visited the construction site in northern Serbia where about 500 of the workers are living in harsh conditions as China’s Shandong Linglong Tire Co. sets up the huge facility.
The project, which Serbian and Chinese officials tout as a display of the “strategic partnership” between the two countries, has faced scrutiny from environmentalists over potentially dangerous pollution from tire production.
Now, it has caught the attention of human rights groups in Serbia, which have warned that the workers could be victims of human trafficking or even slavery.
....”Their passports and identification documents have been taken by their Chinese employers,” he said. “They have been here since May, and they received only one salary [payment]. They are trying to get back to Vietnam but first need to get back their documents.”
Workers sleep on bunk beds without mattresses in barracks with no heating or warm water. They told the AP that they have received no medical care even when they developed COVID-19-like symptoms, being told by their managers simply to remain in their rooms.
Nguyen Van Tri, one of the workers, said nothing has been fulfilled from the job contract he signed in Vietnam before embarking on the long journey to Serbia.
“Since we arrived here, nothing is good,” he said. “Everything is different from documents we signed in Vietnam. Life is bad, food, medicine, water … everything is bad.”
...Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said she “would not rule out that the attack against the Linglong factory” is organized “by those against Chinese investments” in Serbia — referring to frequent criticism from the West that Chinese projects there are not transparent, are ecologically questionable and are designed by Beijing to spread its political influence in Europe.
“At the beginning, it was the environment. Now they forgot that and they focused on workers there. After tomorrow there will be something else,” she said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Friday that a Serbian labor inspector has been sent to the Linglong construction site but was blunt on the expected outcome of the eventual findings.
“What do they want? Do they want us to destroy a $900 million investment?” Vucic asked.
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China selected Serbia because their politicians can be bought and would turn a blind eye to the enslavement of non-Serbians. IMO Serbia also has, unlike Western Europe, weak unions, so indenturing Vietnamese instead of employing locals, which China very rarely does, is accepted for the right amount of payola. Where’s that prostitute Lefraud when true slavery is being done. Dribbling to the Mandarin beat of his Beijing Master XI the Pooh?
