In 2024 October 10 the final conference of the international project „Support for Belarusian workers and refugees in Lithuania” (project No.: NDICI-GEO-NEAR/2023/450-896 – OPSYSPC-34638) was held in Vilnius. The conference was translated to the Lithuanian, English and Russian languages.
In total 43 participants (live and online) took part in the conference. The conference participants were greeted by the chairman of LPS „Solidarumas” Mrs Kristina Krupavičienė and vice minister Mrs Agneta Ladek of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. During the conference project experts: Jovita Pretzsch, Andreij Atamanchuk and Robin van de Poll presented the research results. Later they answered questions and took part in debate.
In the Conference participated from the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania – Aistė Gerikaitė-Shukienė and Grazina Genė and from the Employment Services Agency – Ernesta Varnaitė Online participated Luca Palazzotto from European Union and others participated.
From Belarusian side representatives participated from Salidarnast (Belarusian trade union organisation registered in Bremen, Germany), Dapamoga and Eurobelarus.
In the beginning of the conferenvce Mrs Kristina Krupavičienė thanked all for coming. She informed that LPS ,,Solidarumas” that the purpose of this project was to conduct a research the living and working conditions of Belarussians in Lithuania. At the moment there is a lack of information, what Belarusians do, how they feel about it, what are the working conditions and so on. Therefore it was decided to further analyse the Belarusian employees with the goal to help them in Lithuania. This was one of the goals, the second goal was to maintain contact with Belarusian independent unions, because at that time two active leaders were in a Belarusian prison.
Before the start of the war in Ukraine, LPS ,,Solidarumas” had a good relation with the trade unions of Belarus and organised many events, like joint seminars, exchange of delegations, exchange of information, and so on. ,,It is good that Belarusians are here in Lithuania and that they have found a home in a neighbouring country. Lithuanian community want to help them to integrate” – said Mrs Kristina Krupavičienė.
Vice-minister Agneta Ladek thanked trade unions for building bridges, representing employees, and seeking dialogue with employers. She informed that from 1th of January 2025 a new quota will be introduced in Lithuania for immigrants who want to work.
These quotas will be applicable for the cheapest workforce in Lithuania and consequently for economic migrants instead of political refugees. Moreover, the restriction does not exist for specialists creating high added value. According to the Vice-minister, geopolitically, the situation will not change in the near future and it is important to regulate labour market. This year, the Centre for Strategic Analysis of the Government published „Statistics of the State of Human Capital in Lithuania”, which presents the labour market trends, forecasts and trends of the coming decade. Lithuania is not only a logistics centre for its country, but also for the Baltic region. The greatest need of the labour market will remain in the transport sector. Employers and employees should agree on sustainable labour migration so that individuals can have ensured rights. Lithuania want to make the decisions and processes easier – she said.
At the conference, the results of a study on how Belarusians manage to live and work in Lithuania were presented by project experts Jovita Pretzsch, Andreij Atamanchuk and Robin van de Poll. The research was carried out using the quantitative (online) survey among Belarusian migrants and qualitative interviews with all relevant stakeholders in Lithuania (SODRA, Employment Services, Ministry of Social Security and Labour, etc.) and in-depth-interviews with a number of Belarusian migrants living in Lithuania.
In the research was asked how satisfied Belarusians are with the living and working conditions in Lithuania. What are the most common problems? The research revealed that most Belarusians are rather satisfied with their work and stay in Lithuania (79% enjoys staying in LT, under the given circumstances). In general they appreciate the attitude of the Lithuanian people towards their exile in the country. However Belarusians are unsatisfied with the bureaucracy of the authorities regarding obtaining or legalizing documents (permits, licences, diploma’s, etc.). In this respect they feel some degree of discrimination for instance compared to Ukrainian migrants. Most Belarusians want to make the best out of their stay in LT, but when political conditions will allow them, many would like to return to Belarus.
In the survey and interviews the Belarusians were also asked questions if they want to remain a passive participant in the labour market or become an active member of the community? It turned out, that most Belarusians live in their own communities (bubbles) and cooperate closely with their fellow countrymen and Ukrainians. To stimulate the integration of Belarusians in the Lithuanian society it is recommended to involve municipalities.
From all the discovered illegal employees in Lithuania a majority is Belarusian. Therefore in order to avoid illegal work, it is recommended to reduce unpaid vacation for them. Also Belorussian employees working in Lithuania must to be better informed about the data available in state institutions (in Sodra, VMI) by all electronic means of information. Almost half of the interviewed persons want become members of a trade union and they do not have difficulty to pay 10 to 20 EUR membership fee per month.
At the end of the conference, Mr Luca Palazzotti from the EU expressed his interest in a follow-up project on the condition that the project would be expended for instance by including Poland. Mrs. Kristina Krupavičienė replied that already the Polish and Latvian trade union expressed their interest to participate in a follow-up-project.
A representative of the Belarusian trade union organisation Salidarnast (registered in Bremen) said that organising activities in Belarus is far too dangerous. He asked for training of Belarusians in Lithuania. They will return one day and will take their knowledge with them.
LPS ,,Solidarumas” promised to work on a follow-up project for the EU together with the Trade unions from Countries like Poland and Latvia.