“We've Got People Lined up Behind the Door”
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European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI) P.O.Box 444 FIN-00531 Helsinki Finland Excerpt from publication no. 75, pages 31-170 “WE’VE GOT PEOPLE LINED UP BEHIND THE DOOR”: Placing the Trafficking and Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Context in the Restaurant and Cleaning Sectors in Finland Natalia Ollus and Anniina Jokinen With the financial support of the Prevention of and Fight against Crime Programme European Commission – Directorate-General Home Affairs This project has been funded with the support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 31 1.1 Aims of this report .................................................................................. 32 1.2 The Finnish context concerning trafficking in human beings ................. 35 1.2.1 Legislation concerning trafficking ................................................... 35 1.2.2 Statistics on trafficking cases in Finland .......................................... 37 1.2.3 National efforts to counteract trafficking ......................................... 39 1.3 Migrants in Finland ................................................................................. 41 1.4 Labour market policies in the cleaning and restaurant sectors ............... 43 1.4.1 The cleaning sector .......................................................................... 44 1.4.2 The restaurant sector ........................................................................ 45 2. Data and methods ........................................................................................ 47 2.1 Data and materials ................................................................................... 47 2.1.1 Expert interviews ............................................................................. 47 2.1.2 Migrant worker interviews ............................................................... 49 2.1.3 Court data and pre-trial investigation material ................................ 52 2.1.4 Media materials ................................................................................ 53 2.1.5 Expert meeting ................................................................................. 54 2.2 Analysis ................................................................................................... 54 3. Migration and employment policies in Finland ....................................... 56 3.1 The perceived shortage of labour and assessment of available labour ... 57 3.1.2 The debate concerning assessment of available labour in the cleaning and restaurant sectors ........................................................ 59 3.2 Exploitation leading to trafficking? ........................................................ 62 4. Recruitment of migrant workers and work permits ................................ 64 4.1 Recruitment mechanisms ........................................................................ 65 4.1.2 Rationale for coming to Finland ...................................................... 65 4.1.3 Recruitment through recruitment and employment service companies ........................................................................................ 66 4.1.4 Recruitment by relatives, acquaintances and word-of-mouth .......... 69 4.1.5 Recruitment fees and other fees ....................................................... 72 4.2 Work permits ........................................................................................... 76 4.2.1 Recruitment and work permits ......................................................... 77 4.2.2 Exploitation with work permits ........................................................ 78 4.2.3 Disclosing exploitation when applying for an extension permit ...... 81 5. The grey economy and exploitative practices in the cleaning and restaurant sectors ....................................................................................... 84 5.1 The cleaning sector ................................................................................. 84 5.1.1 Extreme competition ........................................................................ 84 5.1.2 Subcontracts and long chains ........................................................... 86 5.1.3 Zero contracts and part-time work ................................................... 89 5.1.4 Not receiving enough hours or having too much work – the problem of scaling the work ...................................................... 94 5.2 The restaurant sector ............................................................................... 99 5.2.1 Sales without taxes......................................................................... 101 5.2.2 Ethnic restaurants – signs of systematic exploitation? .................. 103 5.3 Flexibility and dependency: the context for exploitation ..................... 110 6. Prevention of exploitation of migrant workers and trafficking for forced labour ............................................................................................ 113 6.1 Seeking help and disclosing labour exploitation .................................. 113 6.1.1 Migrants at risk .............................................................................. 113 6.1.2 Where to seek help? ....................................................................... 115 6.1.3 Migrant workers’ experiences of trade unions .............................. 121 6.1.4 Raising the awareness of migrant workers on their rights and available services ........................................................................... 123 6.2 Prevention of exploitation and the role of the authorities and employers .............................................................................................. 127 6.2.1 Intentional exploitation .................................................................. 127 6.2.2 Lack of sanctions ........................................................................... 129 6.2.3 Bankruptcies and the ban on business operations .......................... 132 6.2.4 The responsibility of contractors ................................................... 134 6.2.5 The role of oversight and inspections ............................................ 136 7. Discussion and recommendations............................................................ 139 7.1 Summary of main results ...................................................................... 139 7.2 Discussion on the findings .................................................................... 142 7.3 Recommendations ................................................................................. 146 References ...................................................................................................... 153 “WE’VE GOT PEOPLE LINED UP BEHIND THE DOOR”: Placing the Trafficking and Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Context in the Restaurant and Cleaning Sectors in Finland Natalia Ollus and Anniina Jokinen 1. Introduction In recent decades, the forces of globalization have restructured the labour markets and economies in both industrialized and developed countries. Along with the movement of industries and production from West to East in response to economic incentives, there has been a parallel movement of labour from East to West and North to South. In the European Union, the promotion of free movement has further facilitated labour migration within the EU. At the same time, national and regional efforts have strengthened in order to control migration and to allow only certain “desirable” migrants entry into societies as well as labour markets. This development has been evident also in Finland. Since 2006, Finnish government policies have actively promoted an increase in labour migration. While the focus has been on attracting and acquiring skilled migrant workers, there has simultaneously been an increase in the arrival of unskilled migrants in Finland. In 2007, most labour migrants who came from third countries to Finland were unskilled (Asa & Muurinen 2010, 47). Migrant workers are portrayed as supplementing the Finnish workforce, with a focus on highly educated workers, experts and entrepreneurs (Valtioneuvosto 2013). At the same time there are signs that the number of migrant workers in low-paid service sector positions has increased (Asa & Muurinen 2010). Domestic labour is often unwilling to work if the terms of employment are based on part- time and low-paid contracts, and require highly flexible and uncertain working hours and conditions. Most migrants in Finland are employed in the labour-intensive, low-paid service sector. Some sources estimate e.g. that every second person working in the cleaning sector in the Helsinki area has a migrant background (HS 10 March 2013). Also the restaurant sector employs a lot of migrant workers (e.g. YLE 10 December 2012). The labour costs in both sectors form a large part of the overall costs. At times of austerity and in a situation where costs must be cut, savings are sought in labour costs, i.e. the wages of the workers. This creates at worst a dualisation or bifurcation of the labour market, where the working conditions of migrant workers are fundamentally different from those of domestic labour. These developments form the