interpreters ‘paid under €2.50 an hour’
The EU border agency Frontex has been accused of exploiting staff by using a contractor who it is claimed offers interpreters an effective wage of less than €2.50 (£2.11) an hour.
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, the EU’s best-funded agency with a budget of €754m, is being petitioned by interpreters who work with vulnerable asylum seekers in places such as Greece, Italy and the Canary Islands.
A petition on the website Change.org claims Frontex “exploits their own staff” and violates European standards on pay and working conditions, by using a third-party contractor that offers low wages.
Mohammed Moctar, an interpreter and cultural mediator who instigated the petition, said he had never been offered such low pay in eight years of working for EU agencies, including Frontex. “This last offer from SeproTec is the worst offer I ever received as an interpreter,” he said, referring to the Madrid-headquartered company that recently won a contract to provide interpreters to Frontex.
Moctar, who speaks 10 languages including English, French, Italian, classical Arabic, Soninke and his Sango mother tongue, said Frontex needed to take responsibility for the interpreters. “I am speaking up, with the risk of not getting hired any more, but this matter affects a lot of others who prefer to stay anonymous, because of fear of losing their job or decreasing chances to find work,” he said.
In July Moctar was offered €1,800-2,000 a month to work at an undetermined location in Spain for SeproTec, according to an email seen by the Guardian. While on paper the pay is well above Spain’s minimum wage, the interpreters point out they are expected to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“The salary that has been offered comes down to less than €2.50 per hour, considering the 24/7 work week,” the petition says. At least two other people were offered similar rates, according to screenshots seen by the Guardian.
SeproTec rejected the allegations as “flagrantly biased”, saying its salaries were between five and eight times greater than what the petition said.
Interpreters can never be more than a 30-minute distance from their work base and may have to work up to 12 hours at a time, often dealing with traumatised people who have endured terrifying sea crossings.
Moctar was previously paid more than twice as much by another agency working for Frontex, with a package that included his accommodation and transport.
Not including these benefits is unreasonable, argue the petitioners. Frontex interpreters are deployed for a few months at a time to tourist hotspots where short-term accommodation is expensive. “We request a reasonable salary per month plus the expenses for accommodation, transportation and flights,” states the petition, which had been signed by 182 people on 12 August.