After leaving the grind in Asia, Filipino women find exploitation in Poland
Al Jazeera
Filipino migrant workers in European country allege wage theft, salary deductions and passport confiscation.
Warsaw/Katowice, Poland – Not long after walking through the doors of an employment agency on the ninth floor of a skyscraper in Hong Kong, Stephanie* was captivated by the idea of working in Poland.
Sitting on her bed in her employer’s home later that evening in late 2021, the domestic worker from the Philippines contemplated leaving behind the neon lights of Asia for a brighter future in Europe.
Less than a year later, Stephanie landed in Warsaw, joining the growing ranks of Filipinos filling factories, warehouses, farms, hotels, households and construction sites in Poland.
There, Stephanie’s dream collided with the harsh reality of menial work in the central European country.
After getting a job at a poultry factory in a small town in western Poland, Stephanie was paid just 700 zlotys ($175) for a month’s work, she said, a fraction of the some $1,000 promised to her by recruitment agents.
