Serbia: Chinese company forcing labourers to work under inhumane conditions, using 'slave labor'

Nov 25, 2021

Belgrade [Serbia], November 25 : Hundreds of Vietnamese workers working for a Chinese company in Serbia are forced to work under inhumane conditions, with no money, no passports, and no hot water.
"No food, no electricity," a Vietnamese worker told European media DW news. This is about all he can tell us in English. The man and his 500 or so compatriots are working in a Chinese tire factory in the European country.
As reported by European media DW news, the Chinese company 'Linglong tire' plans to invest around USD 900 million in the site but has been tarnished by reports of slave-like working conditions at the Serbian construction site.
"It's terrible. People there don't even have medical support," says Ivana Gordic, an investigative journalist who was the first to report on the Vietnamese labourers' living and working conditions, the report said.
Serbian activists have also filed criminal charges on suspicion of slave labour and human trafficking. According to the report, the guest workers have been in Serbia since the spring of this year, but so far they've received only one month's wages. Their employer has also kept their passport, DW reported.
In other recent developments on China's exploitation of workers, reports have stated that Laos workers who were hired by Chinese companies for construction projects, undertaken six years ago, are still waiting for their payments.
These workers were hired to build homes for villagers displaced by the construction of a China-backed dam, Radio Free Asia reported.