About 100 Sri Lankan workers of Vrancea County relocated due to COVID-19 pandemic

About 100 Sri Lankans working in Vrancea County for several years have been relocated across the country under the "Aid for Sri Lankan Immigrant Workers" programme after losing their jobs to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Director of the Vrancea branch of the Red Cross Rodica Davidean.

"We have just completed the 'Aid for Sri Lankan Immigrant Workers' project. We are preparing for the final report. But it seems that such situations are happening again: people are leaving their jobs or more or less objectively closing their employment contracts seeking for another job, hoping for better. Under the programme we started in early May, we have managed to relocate almost 100 people from Sri Lanka, most of them from Vrancea County. We have also lobbied for other Sri Lankan nationals from other counties, such as Sibiu, Botosani, and Bucharest City, who learned about our project and asked for support," Davidean said on Tuesday.

It takes at least three weeks to find a job to relocate a Sri Lankan worker, during which time Red Cross volunteers mediate the relationship between the employee and the future employer and at the same time, most often, provide them with accommodation and meals.

Workers who have expressed a wish to return to their country of origin are being brought to the attention of the authorities.

"We have a partnership with Romania's Office for Immigration and a permanent communication with the consulate and embassy of Sri Lanka. As many as 13 people have expressed their desire to return to their country of origin, but the waiting time has been extended so much that those people have been advised by Red Cross volunteers to take up a job, even temporarily, which they did, " said Davidean.

Most of the relocated Sri Lankan employees arrived in Romania to work in the clothing industry, but later found work in cleaning companies, social services, the automotive industry, bakery, etc.