Good morning...Vietnam!

The Ministerial Decision signed six months ago by several government officials, which provides for the approval of a specific number of residence permits for people from third countries for work, has now been drastically implemented. Aigialeia is the first... "station" of their influx in our country, since twenty land workers from Vietnam are already working in the wider area of the west side of the Municipality since the beginning of July!

Asian workers who have all the legal credentials will be under fixed-term contracts in Aigialeia, thus "opening" a new chapter in local production, since several local farmers from villages such as Nerantzies, Myrovrisi or Neo Salmeniko, have already integrated Vietnamese labor into their workforce and have benefited from the specific program co-decided by the Ministry of Labor of Vietnam with the Western Region Greece.

1550 people across the country
The amendment of the law on the influx of land workers, signed last April, was based on an earlier decision of '21 which gave work approval and a "green light" for the recruitment of people in the primary sector, dependent work but also seasonal in the second year, workers from Vietnam, Egypt and Bangladesh. The first 1,550 land workers from Vietnam are already working in various parts of the country, with the first twenty of them having settled in Aigialeia and offering their services, contributing to the production process.

These employees have been distributed at Regional level and not at Regional Unit level, but the number of movements was determined in relation to the requests submitted, while only 40% were finally covered. This programme has a two-year option. Employees from the Asian state who work in the wider area of Aigialeia for this summer, which ends, are included in an institutional framework that governs labor relations and labor exchange and provides for specific remuneration from their employers, insurance coverage, regular hours and working days, as well as all state benefits that a worker may have in general.

The two-year programme
Professional producers and farmers who have hired the 20 Asians who already work on their crops by law must also provide them with accommodation for the duration of their stay in the region. Some Vietnamese who already work in the Achaean land will stay until the first months of next year, when the designated time contract for this year expires. The program will continue next summer (in 2024) where more than 450 land workers are expected to come to Aigialeia, unless unexpected, from Vietnam or other neighboring countries.

Albanians are leaving, Vietnamese are coming
After the... When many land workers fled from neighboring Albania (80%) who worked and lived in the wider area of Aigialeia, the total production potential had been reduced to a desperate extent, resulting in farmers not finding labor and those who eventually did, were considered ... "expensive", as the wages that applied in 2020 were 35 to 40 euros per 8 hours, while this year, there was no land worker who received less than 50 euros per day.

In fact, some people of Albanian origin who worked for several years in various businesses, have left with their family or not for countries such as England, the Netherlands and Germany, as they have "realized" that Greece is now "poor" in wages, conditions, benefits and stable work. It is estimated that 65% of people from the neighboring country who lived and were productive in the last 10 years in Aigialeia, have already moved permanently to other labor markets, with a more stable economic policy and growth than Greece.

Economic development of the country through investments
The workers who have arrived from the distant country will cover fixed, existing labor needs, according to the representative of this international initiative of the Greek Economy Restart Committee, Dimitris Moutousis. This committee is the most responsible for the economic development of the country through investments and labor exchanges and Aigialeas Mr. Moutousis with immediate and effective actions, He made sure not only that there would be organic workers from this year, but that the first to arrive for work in the country would be in businessmen of Aigialeia and in crops located mainly in the west of the Municipality.

Vietnamese land workers are considered among the best and most efficient in their work worldwide. They are a hardworking, peaceful and highly developed people. Let's not forget that Vietnam is a country with over 99.5 million population and this means that there are thousands of available labor, of all ages, who want to work in Europe or in productive crops such as Greece", were the first words of Dimitris Moutousis, speaking about the workers of Asian origin who are already employed by agricultural units.



D. Moutousis: "It was a personal choice of the group of land workers from Vietnam"
Dimitris Char, President of the International Initiative "Restarting the Greek Economy", spoke. Mr. Moutousis said about the program: "In the context of our target, to promote Greece as an investment destination, to support the extroversion of Greek businesses and to address important structural issues facing the economy, which hinder its further development, we are working with institutional bodies such as the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives and the Greek Aquaculture Producers Group to address the problem of finding legal, reliable, productive and economically competitive seasonal workforce from third countries", noted Mr. Moutousis and added: "It was a personal choice, the first group of seasonal land workers from this state, to come to Aigialeia. Raisin producers facing increased production costs, labor shortages and adverse weather conditions. They needed to be helped immediately and crucially."

The envoy of the Ministry of Vietnam found the working conditions excellent
For his part, the representative of licensed human resource management companies from the Ministry of Labor of Vietnam, Nam Le, said about the whole process: "I visited Aigialeia to have a personal opinion on the type of work required, to see the living conditions of seasonal workers and to hear the opinion of their farmers – employers. We are very satisfied with the living conditions and the general behavior. The farmers of Aegia are sympathetic to the fact that it took some time to learn the manual labor required. Vietnam has an experienced and reliable workforce and we hope for a more extensive cooperation with local producers in the future," the Vietnamese spokesman said.

"Vietnam is a developing people"
"I have been active for several years both in Vietnam and in various Asian countries, I know the needs and the situation of these regions and I know the conditions in each of them. Vietnam is a growing market, not involved in wars or embargoes, and at the same time, there is unemployment. So it wasn't... impossible to find the "golden mean" and finally open the "gates" of the program, so that we can have for this year the appropriate potential in Greece for practical work, especially since there is a terrible shortage in the Municipality and workers are not easily found to work in such similar activities..." said Mr. Moutousis.

Every Greek farmer, based on the property he has and the total amount he declares each year to the tax office that he receives, has the right to invite from one to thousands of employees, in order to work completely legally, with employment contracts from 3 months minimum to 11 maximum, in various jobs. Each application is submitted by the employers in his Region and once approved, the employee moves directly from his country, with the cost of his travel, accommodation and food being borne solely by his employer. The daily wage applicable in these cases is 35 euros, while the farmer must provide full insurance coverage to the employee. It should be noted that every employee who has left Vietnam to work in the region has a clean criminal record and of course full social coverage, as these are necessary conditions for the certification of their work.

Two of the farmers of the local community of Aigialeia who collaborated or are collaborating with land workers from Vietnam, reported that the cooperation with them is completely satisfactory that they are kind and hardworking people:

Yiannis Thanasoulias: "I employ 6 people in total, inthe crops I have in the village of Myrovrysi. These people are fully cooperative, receptive and polite. The truth is that I was pleasantly surprised by their behavior and their hard work. I am also very satisfied with their productivity and I think that such programs, in addition to work efficiency, They also bring advantages of simple, human communication. Of course I will work again with Vietnamese workforce, they are a good breed and tireless workers...".

Andriana Panagiotopoulou: "A total of four people worked for me through the labor exchange program and I have to say that I am quite pleased, in every way. The workers from the Asian state are people who are smiling and positive, with great will for their work. Of course I will benefit from this process again and certainly, the Vietnamese people are a very honest and productive solution. Although we did not have a common language of communication, we had a very pleasant and beautiful time with each other, said the producer from Neo Salmeniko.