Workers from Romania were exploited at a waste processing plant in Budapest. They received meagre or no pay and lived in inhumane conditions. These violations were detected during inspections, including at an ELA-supported joint inspection between the Hungarian and Romanian Labour inspectorates in Budapest in December 2023. Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation assisted with the setting up of a joint investigation team (JIT), in view of the cross-border scope of the case. This supported Romanian and Hungarian law enforcement to carry out searches and arrest several members of an organised criminal group in November 2024.
An organised crime group is suspected to have trafficked human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation for over 10 years. The Romanian workers were promised good salaries as well as housing. In contrast, they usually had to work 12, 18 or even 24 hours a day in a waste processing plant in Budapest, did not receive any protective equipment, had to work in very cold temperatures in winter and could not even properly sit-down during breaks. The workers had been recruited mainly from foster care system in Romania.
The workers either received only a part of the promised wages or these were taken away from them altogether because the perpetrators claimed they used it to cover the workers’ housing and food. They lived in derelict, dirty, and unheated accommodation. The workers were scared of the employers who carried knives and firearms.