Ukrainian hands are highly valued in Czechia, but poorly paid
As Radio Prague notes, this model has been in effect in the country for two years and confirms the demand for Ukrainian labor resources. However, Czech trade unions are on guard. They believe that Ukrainians work for reduced wages, and the Economic Chamber of Czechia prefers to hush up this circumstance.
The employment of Ukrainian personnel is a great help not only for Czech enterprises. This is no longer disputed in the country today. This process entails a number of positive effects and, in particular, helps Czech pensioners as well.
"It can be said that every Ukrainian who has managed to find a job in Czechia through the 'Ukraine Mode' program annually transfers 440 crowns (about 17 euros) to the account of Czech pensioners. This means that they make a real contribution to the pension system. At the same time, only a few of the Ukrainian workers receive this contribution back," said the President of the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic, Vladimir Dlouhy. He noted that Czech enterprises face a shortage of labor, so the Chamber plans to start negotiations with the government on doubling quotas.
At the same time, in an interview with Czech Radio, Dlouhy noted: "The 'Ukraine Mode' is a short-term solution to the problem of staff shortages in the Czech labor market. In the long-term planning horizon, it is not applicable. In the long term, we need to do our homework related to reforms in the education system, labor market, and other areas."
Most employers praise their Ukrainian employees. Most often, enterprises seek to extend their contracts until the expiration of the employee card (zaměstnanecká karta), which is initially issued to Ukrainian citizens for only two years.
However, representatives of trade unions express critical remarks about the employment of Ukrainian personnel. They consider the excessively low level of their wages and the concealment of this information from the public to be the most acute problem, emphasized the Chairman of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, Josef Středula.
"The Economic Chamber claims that the wage level of Ukrainians is similar to the salary level of Czech employees performing the same work, but this is not true. Confirmation of my words is the data from the Czech Statistical Office, on the basis of which the following conclusion can be drawn: the difference in wages in this case amounts to several thousand crowns. Quite recently, for example, I also read an advertisement from a large IT company. It concerned a vacancy for a computer network operator. For this work, moreover in a three-shift mode, a clearly reduced gross salary, that is, before deductions, of 20,000 crowns (about 800 euros) was offered.
Advertisements of this kind are aimed at a specific category, namely Ukrainian workers, because no Czech with the appropriate qualifications will agree to work for such 'remuneration,'" emphasizes Josef Středula.
The company Abydos from the city of Cheb is a partner of foundry companies and produces castings according to customer requirements. It was the first to respond to the offer to employ Ukrainians under the 'Ukraine Mode' program. According to the Executive Director of Abydos, Olga Kupets, without an influx of foreign personnel, the company would not be able to cope with the volume of orders.
"Without replenishment from foreign personnel, I can no longer even imagine how we could maintain our positions. Especially in a situation where industry as a whole is accelerating, we do not want to refuse orders. The Ukrainians who work at our enterprise have integrated very well into the team and have mastered all the intricacies of the work they perform."
Representatives of the Economic Chamber complain that the procedure for employing Ukrainian personnel still takes an unacceptably long time. Their opinion is shared by the General Director of MD logistika, Robert Kuchař. Currently, the company is struggling to find drivers for 190 trucks.
"We decided to use the possibilities of the 'Ukraine Mode' program in December 2016. A tough nut for us is the shortage of drivers. But when we finally found suitable candidates for these vacancies in Ukraine, it turned out that their employment is a long-distance run. On average, the entire procedure, from the first contact with a potential employee to their actual start of work, takes seven months."
To date, Czech companies want to attract a total of over 17,000 people from Ukraine. The most in demand are technical workers.