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“Tell them your story. If you are asked about your weaknesses, put them in a positive light. Don’t be afraid to ask questions!” During a webinar organized for Ukrainian refugees by Mamo pracuj (Mom, Work!), a Krakow-based NGO supporting mothers returning to the labor market, a dozen women learn the basics of interviewing for work. When the question-and-answer session begins, attendees ask about the recognition of Ukrainian educational qualifications in Poland, access to job vacancies and salary expectations.
The founders of Mamo pracuj launched a program specifically for Ukrainian women seeking work in Poland shortly after the outbreak of war in February. “We were all horrified. I saw women with children arriving at the train station and we wanted to do for them what we already do best for Polish women, which is to help them find their competencies [in the job market,]”Recalls Marcelina Palka, project coordinator for Mamo pracuj.
Thanks to over 100 expert volunteers – such as recruiters, HR managers and career coaches – around 500 Ukrainian refugees are being helped to find decent work in Poland. Mamo pracuj’s ambition is to provide Ukrainian women with multifaceted support, from legal advice to psychosocial assistance. But the organization is just one of many public and private initiatives that have emerged to support the integration of Ukrainian refugees in Poland since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
Thanks to their geographical proximity and cultural similarities, for almost a decade (and especially since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in Donbass in 2014) Ukrainians have been the largest group of foreign workers in Poland. Although exact figures are hard to come by, according to various sources between 1.5 and 2 million Ukrainian migrants were already in Poland before the war, mostly performing low-paid jobs in industrialized sectors such as construction, transport and agriculture. But there is a huge demographic shift.
An estimated 150,000 Ukrainian workers, most of them men, have left Poland since February to join the war effort, while the Polish government has granted all Ukrainians fleeing the war temporary residency and full access to the labor market.
Although they are commonly referred to as such, most Ukrainians in Poland are not officially refugees. They have been granted temporary special status, with very few applying for asylum as most Ukrainians plan to return home at some point, if they haven’t already. According to the latter [August] data from the Ministry of Digital Affairs, approximately 1.25 million people from Ukraine have applied for a Polish identification number (PESEL); this gives them the same benefits as Polish citizens, including access to healthcare, free public education and monthly child benefits. The majority of these people are women and children, as Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the country, but this has led to significant disparities in the labor market.
“Ukrainian refugees are mostly women, so obviously some of the job offers will not be suitable for them because they refer to typically male occupations such as transport or construction. The [Polish] the labor market badly needs those Ukrainians who have returned home to join the fight. Entire sectors such as construction depend on Ukrainian migrants,” THINKTANK Poland analyst Zbigniew Gajewski said during a panel discussion organized by the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) on the impact of Ukrainian refugees on the Polish labor market earlier this year.
Displaced women: a double disadvantage
Although the Russian invasion has forced a large percentage of educated and highly skilled workers into exile, displaced women generally face a double disadvantage because they are women and because they are migrants. “This crisis has forced people who were very well integrated and respected in their communities to leave for their lives. Now they are competition for low-wage workers in Poland. It is extremely difficult to find a position where their qualifications can be used,” says Dr. Olena Davlikanova of FES Ukraine, herself a refugee who fled to Poland.
The most common concerns of these often traumatized women are access to housing and childcare, finding a decent job and mastering the Polish language. “The language barrier is a huge challenge,” Palka of Mamo pracuj told Equal Times. “If a woman speaks Polish or English, we know that there is a much greater chance of her finding a job. If we have a lady who only speaks Ukrainian or Russian, going through the recruitment process becomes a big problem.”
According to various reports in the Polish media, by the end of August, around 420,000 Ukrainians had found work in Poland thanks to simplified procedures. Ukrainian migrants do not need to apply for a work permit; instead, the employer has 14 days to announce that he is hiring a Ukrainian citizen.
According to a source at the lobby group Employers of Poland, most Ukrainian refugees – about 70 percent – who have been employed in Poland are women, with half of them in low-paid jobs in manufacturing, services or agriculture.
However, the number of refugees actually employed in Poland may vary significantly from official statistics, as the data presented by the authorities only refer to Ukrainians who have taken legal jobs. In practice, due to language barriers and childcare issues, many refugees work off the books in the informal economy.
Trade unions and business groups agree that the opening of the labor market is a positive step towards the integration of Ukrainian workers into Polish society, especially given the pressure faced by NGOs and local authorities responding to the influx of Ukrainian asylum seekers . “Poland is still a relatively poor country. It is very difficult to provide accommodation and assistance [for the large number of refugees]. How long we can hold out remains an open question,” says Sebastian Kochwin, vice-chairman of the Polish trade union confederation OPZZ (All-Polish Alliance of Trade Unions).
Although unions and labor inspectors say they are vigilant about the potential exploitation of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, so far little has been reported through official channels. This was announced by the main labor inspectorate of Poland Even times that they had no known record of labor abuses of Ukrainian refugees working in Poland, but OPZZ’s Koćwin says that while unions are aware of many violations, few workers come forward to file a complaint. In one example, a Ukrainian refugee woman was hired to work in the hospitality industry through a temporary employment agency and was forced to work from 5am to 11pm while her three children stayed in a dormitory without adult supervision. “Even before the outbreak of the war, we had problems with illegal employment and even cases of forced labor. Considering the scale of the crisis, we have many concerns,” says Kocvin.
“Junk” contracts and domestic worker protection
A very common feature of the work offered to Ukrainian refugees is freelance contracts, colloquially known as ‘junk contracts’. Koćwin puts the number of legally employed refugees on such contracts at 70 percent. Although it is the case that many Ukrainians want to return home when the conflict ends, freelance contracts are based on civil law, not the labor code. These contracts may be subject to minimum wage provisions and social security taxes, but there is no limit on working hours, nor are workers entitled to the same benefits as employees, such as sick or vacation pay.
“I would like to have a contract, but then I will earn less than what I earn now. In order to earn more, I have to work more,” says Natalya Maciuk, who has been employed for four and a half years by a temporary employment agency to work in one of the largest discount chain stores in Poland. Her story illustrates some of the difficulties faced by Ukrainian women in Poland and how the war changed the lives of Ukrainian migrants. For example, Natalia works 10 hours a day, six days a week as a cashier to support herself and her two teenage daughters, whom she previously entrusted to the care of her parents and who she supported with remittances. However, since the war broke out and her daughters fled to Poland, their standard of living has declined due to the higher cost of living in Poland, rising housing costs and rising inflation eating into her wages.
The authors of a 2021 report The Impact of Covid-19 on Ukrainian Migrant Women in Poland, found that even before the war, women who took on domestic care were the most affected by insecure work. It is a sector characterized by informality that leaves workers without adequate labor protection. But it is a rapidly growing area, especially with Poland’s aging population. A cursory glance at social networks addressed to Ukrainian refugees shows a flood of job offers on the black market.
Thousands of Poles have opened their homes to Ukrainian asylum seekers, but campaigners are raising the alarm about possible exploitation of Ukrainians working in the domestic care sector.
“There is no regulation about the hours of work or the tasks that must be completed. Many women are employed to care for the elderly, but they are also required to clean, cook, give medicine or even injections. Our right to rest or rest is not respected,” says Ruslana Poberezhnik from the Committee of Domestic Workers.
“Employers often expect domestic workers to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The money we receive in cash is little more than minimum wage, but the majority are employed without any contracts,” she says. Poberezhnik, who originally comes from Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine, has worked as a nanny for two decades. Although she says she has had good experiences with Polish families, she has also spent many years helping Ukrainian migrants who have been exploited. “I got colleagues out of trouble when their employers didn’t want to pay or they took away their passports,” she says.
Poberezhnik and her colleagues founded a union in September 2021 to fight for recognition and rights for domestic workers. The union, which is a member of the common confederation Inicjatywa Pracownicza (Workers’ Initiative or OZZ IP), meets every Sunday in the center of Warsaw. In addition to providing support for domestic workers, the union lobbies the Polish government to legalize their work and ensure decent pay and working conditions.
“We invite refugees to join our meetings where we explain how to avoid becoming a victim of exploitation or avoid working for minimum wages and accommodation. We inform them about their rights, because we know that they can make a living legally,” said Poberezhnik.
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