In Poland, migrant workers from Latin America report abuse, exploitation

Wroclaw, Poland – Rocio Flores, a 44-year-old parent of three, stood trembling successful the bath of a dilapidated state location successful Blaszki, a colony successful cardinal Poland.

Her enactment was shallow arsenic her bosom pounded. Minutes earlier, a antheral from the bureau she had been moving for had waved a weapon astatine her and 5 of her Colombian coworkers. It was August 2023.

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“In my homeland, Mexico, erstwhile a antheral reaches for his gun, it is due to the fact that helium wants to usage it,” she told Al Jazeera. “I thought I was going to dice there, I thought my assemblage would beryllium thrown into the cornfields, and I would ne'er spot my children again.”

The quality began erstwhile the bureau typical announced that the workers’ shifts astatine the Plukon chickenhearted processing works would beryllium extended to 12 hours owed to unit shortages. The radical had refused and demanded the wages they were owed. A heated statement followed. Then the antheral reached for his gun.

Al Jazeera has reviewed the video of Flores’s ordeal recorded by 1 of the workers, and identified the gunman arsenic a Ukrainian. The antheral was past employed by a contractor institution that worked with Jober24, a impermanent recruitment bureau supplying unit to Plukon.

In the video, pursuing a carnal altercation with 1 of the Colombian employees, the antheral successful question walks to his car and pulls a gun. While cursing the migrants successful Polish, helium threatens to telephone the authorities.

“If the constabulary come, you volition get the f*** retired [of the country],” helium says. Four radical among the radical were undocumented.

Before 2022, it was Ukrainians connected impermanent permits who powered Polish factories, farms and nutrient plants. But since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian refugees gained greater entree to Poland’s labour marketplace and galore sought amended occupation opportunities. In hunt of inexpensive labour, impermanent enactment agencies began recruiting from elsewhere.

Latin America became the caller source. Citizens of Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and different countries from the portion could participate the European Union without visas, enactment for 3 months and use for enactment permits portion already successful Poland.

This changed successful June 2025, erstwhile Poland introduced a caller law. Migrants indispensable present use for enactment permits successful their location countries. There is besides present greater oversight connected impermanent enactment agencies, which utilized to routinely interruption employment and taxation laws. Penalties for violations person besides increased.

Despite the changes, however, it is inactive unclear whether the concern of migrant workers volition improve.

For Colombians, who person faced inflation, unemployment, and Venezuelan migration backmost home, Poland seems similar a accidental for a amended life.

Recruitment often begins with section agencies that put travel. Those recruited are past handed implicit to Polish partners.

“Often, radical are lied to from the beginning,” said Irena Dawid-Olczyk, caput of La Strada, an anti-trafficking group. “Some agencies lend them wealth for the ticket. That indebtedness ties them to exploitative conditions. It’s a signifier of bonded labour.”

Official information shows that Poland issued conscionable much than 4,000 enactment permits to Colombians successful 2022. By 2024, the fig had soared to astir 38,000. But successful galore cases, agencies bash not use for enactment permits connected migrants’ behalf, leaving radical undocumented and astatine the mercy of employers. It is unclear however galore Colombians are surviving without presumption successful Poland.

“We judge that isolated from Latin Americans, migrants from Bangladesh, the Philippines and Central Asia are besides astatine risk,” said Dawid-Olczyk. “But galore don’t spot the authorities capable to study abuses.”

After the incident, Flores and her colleagues took their video signaling to the section constabulary station. According to her, officers located the man, but identified him arsenic a Georgian nationalist and claimed the weapon was a toy. They allegedly encouraged the migrants to reconcile with him alternatively than property charges.

The constabulary told Al Jazeera that they did not prosecute the lawsuit due to the fact that nary of the radical had filed a ceremonial complaint. In a connection to Al Jazeera, the Plukon works said that the antheral with the weapon was not straight employed by their institution oregon by Jober24.

Eventually, Flores and the others, who enactment for an outsourcing company, received their payment: 17 zloty ($5) an hour, beneath the ineligible minimum wage of 21 zloty ($6) astatine the time. In their statement, Plukon said that they ever paid their workers wages successful enactment with the Polish law.

Flores had arrived successful Poland  to find a peaceful beingness successful Europe, acold from Mexico’s unit and poverty. Her program has been for her 2 daughters and son, who unrecorded with her parents, to articulation her erstwhile she settles down.

‘Poland volition request migration to prolong its economy’

In Colombia, TikTok feeds overflow with images of Poland’s medieval castles, dense forests, and cobblestone aged towns. Influencers picture the state arsenic a spot wherever Latin Americans tin gain well, question and bask a amended life.

“People hear, ‘My relative is making 6,000 zloty [$1,650], and is travelling and has a blonde girlfriend.’ It’s a imagination they sell,” said Freddy Abadia, 30, who works with NOMADA, a Wroclaw-based organisation supporting migrants.

“They don’t notation you’ll enactment 270 hours a period successful exhausting jobs, oregon that galore agencies ne'er use for your enactment permit.”

Abadia has firsthand experience.

Freddy Abadia holds a paper with the logo of the Latin American Workers’ Union helium established with the assistance of section organisations [Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska/Al Jazeera]

In 2021, helium was recruited by OESAS, a Colombian bureau that promised him 4,000 zloty ($1,100) a period for a warehouse occupation successful Poland. Instead, helium earned 1,600 ($440) nether harsh conditions. He reported the lawsuit to La Strada arsenic exploitation.

The pursuing years were turbulent. He worked different impermanent jobs, pursued a master’s grade astatine Wroclaw University, and adjacent spent clip homeless. But his experiences and inheritance arsenic a societal idiosyncratic successful Colombia person helped him amended recognize the systemic issues faced by migrants successful Poland.

At NOMADA, helium supports migrant workers and has helped to found the Latin American Workers’ Union successful collaboration with The Workers’ Initiative, a section commercialized union.

In August 2023, it was Abadia astatine the different extremity of the hopeless telephone for help. Five Colombians and a Mexican woman, Flores, had conscionable fled a chickenhearted works aft being threatened with a gun. They had a car but obscurity to go. Some were undocumented owed to their agency’s negligence.

Abadia told them to question to Wroclaw, wherever NOMADA offered them a spot to enactment and assistance successful uncovering caller employment.

The request for labour successful Poland is growing. According to the Polish Institute of Economy, by 2035, the country’s workforce volition shrink by 2.1 cardinal owed to demographic decline, an equivalent of 12.6 percent of the existent supply.

“Poland volition request migration to prolong its economy,” said the institute’s Katarzyna Debkowska. “Between 2022 and 2024 alone, the fig of foreigners successful the Polish labour marketplace roseate by 1 third.”

This reliance connected migration, without capable protections, leaves workers successful precarious positions.

“Unfortunately, we cannot person the aforesaid benignant of unions arsenic successful Latin America, due to the fact that we are not citizens,” said Flores. “But we tin inactive pass people, pass them astir the risks, and stock the information with those who see coming here.”

Two years aft her arrival, Flores is successful a amended place. She has a unchangeable occupation and, unneurotic with NOMADA, she has penned a migrant “survival guide” for Poland, with applicable proposal and accusation astir employment rights.