Over a hundred people gathered at the Czech Ministry of Agriculture to demand justice for hundreds of exploited migrant forest workers on Sunday March 27, 2011.  The march, which was co-organized by the Initiative for Migrant Workers Rights and Initiative against Racism, moved across Prague and reached the Ministry of Interior. The demonstrators demanded full compensation for the migrant workers’ labor as well as a full and timely investigation into what the attorneys representing the workers say is also a case of human trafficking.

Two firms in particular; Affumicata and Wood Servis Praha, which were part of the chain of subcontractors for the Czech Less & Forest, are at the center of what is increasingly evident as a case of wide workers’ exploitation on a transnational level. The work was carried out on public tenders won by Less & Forest from the state owned Lesy České republiky, Krkonoše and Šumava National Parks and other public entities. Over the course of the 2009 and 2010 working seasons the two firms recruited workers from Vietnam, Romania and Slovakia to clean and plant trees in Czech forests, promising salaries that started at 10 000 CZK (around 400 Euros) with arranged housing. However, hundreds of the migrant workers received either a small fraction of their salaries or nothing at all. More importantly, many of the workers reported outrageous working and living conditions: little to no food, long working days, cramped living spaces, and intimidation and threats from the management.

Mr. Tuan, one of the Vietnamese workers who travelled to attend the march told the crowd of the exploitative working conditions he witnessed and said he has yet to be paid for two months of free labor. Similarly, a Slovakian worker who could not attend the march echoed the same experience in a message sent to the organizers in which he also added he is still owed 22 400 Czech crowns (900 Euros). In an address to the gathered crowd, the Trade Union of Workers in the Woodworking Industry, Forestry and Water Management condemned the migrant workers’ exploitation and urged the state company Lesy Česke Republiky to assume its share of responsibility for these incidents. Amidst fears of repeated abuse in the coming season, the protesters urged both ministries and the police to speed up their investigations.

The march marked the end of a full week of events including a public debate on migrant workers’ exploitation in the Czech Republic as well as an exhibition about the case in the National Technical Library in Prague. The aim of these events according to Mr. Čanek, member of the Initiative for Migrant Workers Rights, is not only raising awareness of this abuse and mobilizing support for the migrant workers, but also standing in solidarity –  as people with more privilege – with those who are less privileged, in their pursuit of justice.

Initiative for the Migrant Workers Rights, Prague.