"They treated us like animals": many roadside toilets in Germany are cleaned by Bulgarians hired by Bulgarian subcontractors. And they do not comply with German labor laws, an investigation by ARD shows.
"They treated us like animals, you have no idea what we had to do every day and what humiliations we were subjected to. And in the end they throw you away like a useless thing." This was shared with reporters from the German public media ARD by Bulgarian Anton (name changed for security reasons - ed. note), who worked as a toilet cleaner in Germany.
He claims that he cleaned toilets in a roadside establishment for a year - 12 hours a day. Despite the unbearable conditions, he could not give up, as he lived in his employer's apartment and was afraid that he would end up on the street.
Anton is not an isolated case - ARD reporters conducted research in a number of gas stations and roadside establishments and found that toilet cleaners there work 12 hours a day for a pitiful wage - for five euros per hour, which is far below the minimum hourly wage in Germany of 15 euros.
Subcontractors take care of the cleanliness
Those who use the toilets in roadside establishments pay one euro each to the owner company "Sanifair". Anton does not work directly for it, but for a subcontractor company from Bulgaria - it is responsible for the cleaning. Anton was hired as a freelancer under a contract, ARD reports.
"This is punishable fraud", labor law expert Florian Rödl told the German media on this occasion. "And since this is not an isolated case, this is fraud on a large scale that should be punished severely."
Exploitation also in shopping mall toilets
Before he got to "Sanifair" Anton cleaned toilets in shopping malls, he told ARD reporters. His boss at the time was Svetoslav Petrov - an entrepreneur who was sentenced in Koblenz on Monday to five years and six months in prison. The charges: tax evasion, deductions and wage fraud, as well as organized human trafficking.
The verdict has not yet entered into force, the German public media specifies. But the amount of the alleged damages is known - over ten million euros. According to the prosecutor's office, Svetoslav Petrov and the other defendants have hired hundreds of people, mostly from Bulgaria, to work in 238 toilets in shopping malls for years. They sometimes had to work 16-hour days, receiving only between three and five euros per hour. They were also taken from the tips that visitors left on a saucer.
Svetoslav Petrov and the other defendants did not make any comments to the German media.
"Sanifair" refuses to take responsibility
With the help of his boss, Anton transferred from the shopping malls to "Sanifair". The subcontractor company and the tenant of the roadside establishment did not want to talk to German journalists. Labor law expert Rödl, however, believes that both "Sanifair" and the owner of the roadside establishment are responsible.
In a written response to the ARD, "Sanifair" stated that they take the reports seriously, but the accusations are too general to be verified. The franchise partners manage the "Sanifair" facilities as independent entrepreneurs and they alone are responsible. By contract, they are obligated to comply with legal standards, and any "illegal behavior" is unacceptable, the German company also noted.
The victims have no particular choice
The German public media also quotes Stanimir Mihaylov from the German trade union organization "Work and Life", who advises those affected by labor exploitation and human trafficking. He is currently trying to help Anton.
According to Mihaylov, extreme economic dependence makes people like Anton particularly vulnerable. And customers who visit the toilets in restaurants or shopping centers have no idea about the working conditions there, ARD concludes.