BIRN says Chinese company exploiting foreign workers

According to BIRN, the China Energy Engineering Group Tianjin Electric Power Construction (CEEG TEPC) company brought foreign workers to Serbia, having given them illegal and exploiting contracts, not registering them and hiring them out to other companies. It said that the company owes almost 5 million Euro, adding that its accounts have been blocked after 25 Serbian companies sued it. CEEG TEPC has been operating in Serbia since 2018 and has been engaged on what the authorities view as projects of national significance such as the LingLong tire factory in Zrenjanin.

CEEG TEPC was accused of exploiting Vietnamese nationals in 2021 as well as Indian nationals this year. Both those groups of workers said they were living in squalid conditions with little food and no medical support, that their passports were taken from them and that the company owed them a lot of back pay. Some of the Indian workers were paid and sent home with others still under the protection of the state.

BIRN said that some of the Vietnamese did not have work permits.