It looks bleak for ‘migrant workers’ working environment and safety in the Danish construction industry’. On paper, it appears that migrant workers have fewer occupational accidents than their Danish colleagues. A new research report from Aalborg University shows that only around one in five occupational accidents among migrant workers from the new EU, which includes especially Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, is registered, according to a press release from Aalborg University.
Systematic underreporting
According to the researchers behind the report, it is an expression of a systematic under-reporting of occupational accidents and a general absence of a good working environment. And this is a big problem according to Laust Høgedahl, labor market researcher at the Department of Politics and Society at Aalborg University, who is one of the researchers behind the report.
– It is a huge challenge that companies in the construction industry systematically underreport migrant workers’ occupational accidents, because we are increasingly dependent on foreign labour. I can also be concerned that the poor working environment will affect the sector in the long term, says Laust Høgedahl in the press release.
He adds that it creates unfair competition for the companies that have control over the working environment, when some companies can see a competitive advantage in relaxing the working environment.
Must hide from the Working Environment Authority
The report also shows that the Working Environment Authority’s visit triggers a work stoppage. Several migrant workers tell this through interviews. The migrants are thus required to stop work, leave the construction site and hide when the Working Environment Authority arrives. This prevents effective supervision of the working environment, Laust Høgedahl believes.
– The report shows that the migrant workers live under constant threats of dismissal. They are in many ways dependent on the employers in fear of losing their jobs, and therefore they fear what might happen if the inspection comes, says Laust Høgedahl.
Mixed work teams must ensure a good working environment
Through interviews with 86 migrant workers from 13 different countries, a clear picture emerges that the migrant workers have to work faster and more than the Danes for a lower salary, they lack proper instructions in how to solve the tasks and are assigned the most dangerous, hardest and dirtiest tasks on the construction sites.
It testifies to a working environment where high work pace and too many hours are prioritized, while the safety of migrant workers is downgraded. If the migrant workers prioritize their own safety over high work pressure, they are often punished with dismissal or the threat of dismissal. According to Laust Høgedahl, it is tantamount to labor crime for the migrants.
At the same time, the researchers point in the report to solutions to ensure a good working environment for the migrants.
– What works and ensures a good working environment for migrant workers is mixed teams – that migrant workers are well integrated into the Danish labor market and work together with Danish wage earners, says Laust Høgedahl.
Trade union shocked
The trade union 3F, which helped finance the report from Aalborg University, is shocked by the conclusions:
– The study confirms the picture we have suspected for a long time. But the extent of discrimination and the stories that are brought forward are deeply shocking, says chairman of BAT’s committee for foreign labor and deputy chairman of 3F’s construction group, Palle Bisgaard.
Requires political action
– We have very specific tools that can combat the problems. We must have limited the subcontractor chains to one link, introduced chain responsibility everywhere in Denmark, created a mandatory ID card system, provided for mixed chess with foreign and Danish workers, blacklisted the worst employers and much more. Some initiatives require political action and others require employers to accept the state of affairs and help target the Danish model to ensure equal competition. We simply cannot accept that people continue to ignore the problems, says Palle Bisgaard.
Working conditions in free fall
– Working conditions are no longer going downhill – they are in free fall. The problems cannot be isolated to just one industry. The utilization of foreign labor occurs across professions and parts of the country, says chairman of the BAT Cartel’s Working Environment Committee and union chairman of the Painters’ Association, Tonny Olsen in a press release from 3F and the BAT cartel.
3F and the BAT cartel will now present the report to the government.
