Uzbek citizens who arrived in the Vitsyebsk region a few days ago to work in agriculture are unhappy with the wages and conditions offered. Some are asking to return home.
A plane carrying more than 200 residents of the Andijan region arrived in Vitsyebsk on Monday, July 13. According to Uzbekistan’s Migration Agency, the Uzbek citizens arrived as part of a pilot project “for temporary employment in agriculture and livestock farming”. All the arriving Uzbeks were dressed in identical new tracksuits. They were welcomed at the airport with bread and salt and songs.
The first videos in which the Uzbeks express dissatisfaction with the wages offered appeared on social media today. According to one of the migrants, they were offered a salary of $500, while having to pay for accommodation and food themselves.
“They are promising a salary of $500. If we have to pay for food and accommodation ourselves, what will be left — $200? Then what is the point?” the man said indignantly.
Another man said everyone was shocked by the proposed $500 salary and said it was possible to earn more in Uzbekistan.
“If the salary here is $500, and $200 goes on food and another roughly $100 on soap, detergent and other household expenses, only $200 will be left. What is the point of staying here, wasting time and suffering for that $200? Is this why we were sent from Uzbekistan? We did not come here on holiday, but to work.
They say: ‘The salary is $500, but you pay for your own food and accommodation.’ In the end, about $200 is left in hand. We can earn more than that in Uzbekistan. We can even earn more than $500”, he said.
Some said they wanted to return to Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan’s Migration Agency responded to the situation. According to the agency’s press secretary, representatives of the agency and the Andijan regional administration are already working on the ground with employers to resolve the situation, Daryo.uz reported.
The agency said the employment contracts provide for an average salary of $900-$1,000 and a maximum of $1,200. If an employer refuses to pay the salary specified in the contract or violates other conditions, the workers have been promised transfers to another employer.
The agency plans to resolve the situation by the end of the day. The migrants may also be given jobs at farms established in Belarus by Uzbek investors.
Aliaksandr Lukashenka said this week that Belarus intended to invite migrants from Uzbekistan. He wants Uzbeks to arrive with their families and be dispersed across different districts.
It was reported that 5,000 people are expected to arrive in the Vitsyebsk region from the Andijan region.
