Large construction companies in Pilsen feel uncertainty, they have Ukrainians in permanent employment

Plzeň - Major construction companies in Plzeň feel uncertainty due to the war in Ukraine. Ukrainians form a significant part of their construction workers, and these companies have had them in permanent employment for years. They provide them with accommodation, have the same pay and benefits as Czech workers, and they value their work. The surveyed companies do not want Ukrainians as agency workers, but as core employees, according to their statements to ČTK.

"Rather than problems, we feel uncertainty about what will happen next. We have ten percent Ukrainians, that is 23 workers, of which three could no longer return because they went to Ukraine for the winter and have not been allowed back yet," said the CEO of Berger Bohemia, Zdeněk Pilík. The others are waiting to see what will happen and whether they will receive a draft notice, but they are still working normally. The company has arranged for the recruitment of more people, but they do not know if they will arrive. "We still have a demand for a contingent of workers, not just from Ukraine, which is definitely not being fulfilled," Pilík stated.

If the company had enough of its own personnel, it would not have to rely on subcontractors, which is often problematic. "External people are currently not on the market," Pilík said. The company sometimes employs people working "on their own account," but they only turn to agencies in exceptional cases. It seems unnecessary to us to pay some intermediary, he said. If the Ukrainians left, the companies would have lower output.

"Three years ago, we 'recruited' smaller dozens of Ukrainian workers, whose accommodation we pay outside of hostels, and who are our employees. They value their work, sometimes even more than our people do. We do not have hired Ukrainians. In the season we had other workers on contract, which is definitely not the case now," said Jan Muzika, director of the Eurovia branch in Plzeň. A few people from the company returned to Ukraine because they received a draft notice. "For the time they are away, they receive fully paid wages from us, so basically paid leave. And we offer the same option to those who would decide to go to war," Muzika said.

The company also arranges, for example, visas and accommodation for their wives and families. If new people from Ukraine come who are interested in work, the company will hire them immediately. "If they want to work and are decent, they have the advantage that their compatriots can tell them what conditions we offer," Muzika stated.

According to companies, a bigger problem would arise if the war lasted longer, even during the main construction season from April. Some investors demand the acceleration of construction due to road closures. Construction companies then have to ensure double the number of people, who will not be available on the market.

The new head of the Plzeň Directorate of Roads and Highways, Miroslav Blabol, is concerned about the potential departure of Ukrainian employees. "If tens of thousands of Ukrainians leave the Czech Republic, whom we really have on construction sites, I believe that some companies that are dependent on them, as we already experienced during the COVID period when they returned home, had to move teams from one site to another. If, God forbid, they go to the front, then we could have a problem," he said. According to him, most regular employees of construction companies are no longer Czech. Blabol is glad that Ukrainians are no longer seen as hired labor. They really work very well, he added.

According to Pilík, there could also be a problem with construction materials, for example, with iron ore from Russia and Ukraine, which is used for reinforcing concrete. Another problem would be the enormous rise in the price of natural gas, which is the main medium in the coating plants for road surface production.