Workers from Romania have for many years worked with construction work during the construction of Microsoft's server halls in Gävleborg. Among other things, it concerns the giant facilities Stackbo in Valbo, Tuna in Sandviken and Ersbo in Gävle. Several workers have worked for the contractor Benbau AB since 2020.
But they have had neither a collective agreement nor a contractual salary. They have thus received considerably less than what Swedish workers would have earned for the same job.
According to Solidariska byggare, part of the syndicalist union SAC, vacation pay has been baked into the net salary in a way that has made both the salary and vacation pay too low.
- There are workers who have lost a total of SEK 250,000, says Pelle Sunvisson, negotiator at Solidariska byggare.
He says that the union has now concluded an agreement with Benbau for around a hundred Romanian construction workers - and that the company has committed to pay around SEK 15 million in damages, unpaid wages and compensation to the workers.
The British The Guardian recently published an investigative article about problems for employees in server hall construction, including at Benbau. The newspaper tells about problematic housing for Benbau's workers, where 14 people shared a single bathroom and there were rats in the housing. According to The Guardian, there have been serious workplace accidents on the construction sites. The newspaper also tells of an incident where an employee contracted tuberculosis but where other workers in his vicinity were not informed of the infection.
DN talks to a construction worker from Romania who is employed by Benbau AB. He has worked in the company for a couple of years. He talks about the situation at the Microsoft building before the union came into the picture. At the time, many workers were afraid to speak out about tough working conditions and incorrect pay.
- It was crap before. We weren't paid enough and had a lot of problems, but we weren't allowed to talk about it with any of the supervisors.
The worker says that he and his colleagues always felt at a disadvantage.
- If we were dissatisfied with the salary or something else, we were told that there was a choice: We had to be satisfied or go home.
The construction worker believes that he himself will get back around SEK 60,000 in unpaid wages and compensation after the agreement. He is satisfied with being part of the union and believes that the problems at the workplace have been resolved, that Benbau now wants to do the right thing. The management at the construction site in Tuna works well and focuses on safety and cooperation. At the same time, he sees injustice in workers from different countries receiving different wages.
- The nationality does not matter. If you do the same hard work as a Swedish worker, you should also get the same salary.
Eamon Regan, CEO of Benbau AB, does not believe that anything was done wrong with regard to the workers' wages.
- The union pointed out certain deviations in how holiday pay was handled. I think it was a misunderstanding with the employees about their contract. We have reached an agreement on that with the union. The discussions ended last week, with the signing of documents and so on.
Why didn't you have collective agreements and contractual wages before that?
- We have been here since 2018 and it has not been mandatory to have a collective agreement. We have followed the rules.
Eamon Regan says Benbau will hire a PR firm to respond to The Guardian's claims about housing problems, workplace accidents and tuberculosis. But he is clear that they are not correct.
- All accusations directed at us can be answered, every single one, he says.
Pelle Sunvisson does not primarily criticize Benbau. Rather, he is reacting to the system, where large international companies can get buildings completed with low-wage labour. He says that Solidarity Builders started a new process against another contractor at one of Microsoft's server halls, where migrant workers were also not paid the right wages.
- You have enormous workplaces and investments that are praised by all politicians. And they have not even set a requirement that these large companies must have collective agreements in their procurements. I think it's incredibly strange, he says.
Microsoft Sweden announces via its PR company JMW that it says no to an interview. In an email that does not answer DN's questions about problems with wages, working environment and housing, the press service writes, among other things:
"In the construction of our data centers, we cooperate with contractors and suppliers on whom we set clear requirements in terms of health and safety, working conditions and freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. This includes a commitment to maintain a workplace free from harassment, unauthorized discrimination and reprisals, including those relating to union membership. In Sweden, Microsoft is covered by the collective agreement (IT agreement) concluded between TechSverige on the one hand, as well as the Union and SACO affiliates on the other hand.”
