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For Agnieszka Plonkiewicz, 24, the job offer came through her university, WSB in Pozna\u0144, Poland. She started working at Istion Club Hotel & Spa, in Halkidiki on the 27th of June 2019. \u201cMy university sent me an email about Job Trust. I checked their website and it looked like a dream<\/b>,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe university provided me with health insurance and I signed a contract for three months. My motivation to choose Greece and this internship was to learn, gain work experience, meet new people and have a nice time in a sunny place.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\nIt wasn\u2019t long before Agnieszka realised that things were not going to be as she imagined. \u201cI had the worst three months of my life<\/b>. I was standing in the kitchen for 8-9 hours a day, with a wall in front of me, next to the noisy washing machine and the hot stove, polishing cutlery. I had to fight with my manager for one day off. When I told him I had come to Greece to learn, he just laughed out loud\u201d.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\nA few miles away, at the Aegean Melathron Hotel in Kallithea, Chalkidiki, Vlad from Romania (his full details at our disposal) was also excited for this opportunity he got through the Erasmus Programme at his university, Alexandru Ioan Cuza of Ia\u0219i. He worked at the hotel from the end of July until the end of September. That last month he worked for 30 consecutive days, without even one day off. \u201cI didn\u2019t have any days off, because many of the staff had left. I was living in the basement of the hotel together with another Romanian employee.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\nAll the aforementioned employees came to work in Greece, after applying to Job Trust<\/b>. As the company\u2019s website mentions, \u201cthe <\/span>human resources consulting company has been operating for more than 15 years with the main objective of recruiting workers in order to fill vacancies in luxury hotels and resorts in Greece and abroad\u201d. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\nDoing business with universities<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\nIn all its social media, Job Trust advertises summer jobs \u201cwith a taste of holidays\u201d. The company\u2019s videos of long, sandy beaches, cocktail sipping by the pool, modern spacious rooms and local food that looks scrumptious have thousands of views on YouTube, while the taglines \u201cenjoy your summer while working in Greece\u201d and \u201ccombine your summer holidays with a tourism job\u201d<\/span> get numerous likes across social media platforms.<\/span>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/miir.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/jt-promo-eng.mp4″ image_src=”https:\/\/miir.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/vlcsnap-2020-06-15-03h52m18s019.jpg” thumbnail_overlay_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ locked=”off”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_divider show_divider=”off” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ min_height=”26px” locked=”off”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ min_height=”106px” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nJob Trust has a very broad online presence in numerous job websites, search engines and online job boards, such as eurojobs,<\/i> cvrain.com<\/i>, avalanchejob.com, learn4good, hosco, justlanded, profdir<\/i>, etc. It also participates in virtual job fairs of the European Job Days, that are run by EURES, the European Commission\u2019s job mobility portal.\u00a0<\/span>Furthermore, the company lists its summer vacancies to many popular websites for internships, student jobs and Erasmus opportunities such as erasmusintern.org, studentjob.co.uk, erasmusu.com,<\/i><\/span> teli.asso.fr<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/o:p><\/span><\/span>Job Trust representatives travel around Europe in winter and springtime and give out presentations in job fairs and career events or arrange for individual meetings with students in universities across Europe. The Academy of Economics in Svishtov, Bulgaria in 2015, the \u0218tefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania in 2016, the Turan University in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2017, the University of Valencia, Spain in 2018, the Ignatianum University in Krak\u00f3w, Poland and the University of Girona in 2019 are among the many schools that have hosted Job Trust over the past years.\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”10437,10447,10439,10441,10445,10453,10449,10455,10457,10435,10451,10459″ show_title_and_caption=”off” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ caption_font=”||||||||” caption_text_align=”center” caption_text_color=”#a5a5a5″ caption_font_size=”14px” caption_line_height=”20px” background_color=”rgba(198,198,198,0.11)” module_alignment=”center” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” locked=”off”][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ min_height=”156px” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
With some educational institutions, Job Trust has even tighter connections, like the WSB University in Pozna\u0144 that informs students on its available job vacancies, as former employee Agnieszka Plonkiewicz described, or like Ecam Rennes Engineering School in Bruz, France, as another student recounted. \u00a0Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Ia\u0219i, Romania has been collaborating with the company for the last 7 years. \u201cWe have around 60-70 students per year from our faculty going to Greece by means of the Job Trust company. They are hired as interns\u201d, Dorina Moisa, from the <\/b>International Relations Office of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, explains in an email sent to our team. The student and the university sign official Erasmus Programme documents with Job Trust.\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/miir.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/jt-erasmus.png” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” module_alignment=”center” max_height=”400px” custom_margin=”|0px||0px|false|false” custom_padding=”|0px||0px|false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ locked=”off”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
Official Erasmus documents regarding the cooperation between the
Alexandru Ioan Cuza univerity in Iasi Romania, with<\/em><\/span>\u00a0Job Trust.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
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As far as the university knows, the student is hired as an intern who will spend the next few months gaining significant skills and work experience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Entering the “promised land”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nAll prospective employees have to fill out an online application on Job Trust\u2019s website, undergo a phone interview and receive\u00a0<\/span>a job offer in their email inbox\u00a0<\/span>. The job offer may include positions in one or more hotels, from which the applicant can choose, and informs the applicant of the future working hours and monetary compensation per working day. In the following email, which was sent to a candidate ahead of 2019\u2019s tourist season, the working hours are stated as 8-9 per day for<\/strong> 5-6 days a week<\/strong>. The proposed daily wage is 16-22 euros per day<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Job offer received via email proposing a daily wage of 20 euro.
The candidate has the chance to choose between various hotels.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\nOnce the applicants select a hotel to work at and accept the offer, they are, as promised by the agency, sent an email such as the following:\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/miir.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Forwarded-message-staff.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ module_alignment=”center” max_height=”500px” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ locked=”off”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
The email is sent to prospective employees from the\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em>career@jobtrust.gr email address,
but contains a contract with STAFF Company.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThe moment this email arrives in their inbox, prospective employees discover that they will not be employed by the hotel itself, nor by Job Trust. Instead, they will be employed by a company whose existence they previously ignored.\u00a0The subject title clearly states that the \u201ccontract\u201d sent to candidates is with a company named \u201cSTAFF<\/strong>\u201d, however no further details are provided in the emails.<\/p>\nAnd this is where things start getting complicated.<\/p>\n
Job Trust<\/strong>, with which the candidates have been in touch all along, was founded in 2006 by Irina Aslanov, a Romanian national who claims in her online cv to have been raised in Ukraine, Moldova and Russia, and later\u00a0 <\/span>to have studied in Romania and Greece. The company – whose office is located in a residential apartment building in the neighborhood of Kalamaria, Thessaloniki that in no way suggests a busy international recruiting agency, is registered in the Greek General Commercial Registry as a private recruiting agency. It therefore is only allowed\u00a0to act as an intermediary between job applicants and prospective employers who use the agency to source employees matching their criteria. This means that Job Trust cannot act as an employer, but only as an intermediary between candidates and employers.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”10156,10158,10160″ posts_number=”3″ show_title_and_caption=”off” show_pagination=”off” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” locked=”off”][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
Job Trust’s offices at the suburb of Kalamaria in Thessaloniki.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nA closer look into \u201cSTAFF Company<\/b>\u201d reveals that the firm is not based in Greece, but in Bulgaria. In fact, according to the Bulgarian Commercial Register, STAFF has a registered address in the northern town of Pleven, as well as another correspondence address for taxation purposes in the same town, at the office of an accounting firm. The company was founded in February 2017 by a Greek man, Alexandros Savvidis<\/b>. A search into the owner of STAFF company in Greece was unable to deliver any clues about his professional background. It did reveal, however, a very crucial detail: Alexandros Savvidis appears to be a partner to Irina Aslanov, the founder and manager of Job Trust. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\nWe sought more answers about this \u201cmystery\u201d company in Bulgaria. A search in the Commercial Register came back with important information, such as documents dating back to the company\u2019s establishment, where this Greek entrepreneur claimed his personal address to be the village of Neo Risio near Thessaloniki and a PO Box. However, instead of providing an actual PO Box number, Savvidis appears to provide a municipal registry number, essentially providing the Bulgarian authorities with false information about his actual residence. Furthermore, from the register it becomes clear that Savvidis has founded or managed a total of eight companies<\/b> since 2010, all of which are still operating. And as we were soon to find out, foreign students and jobseekers that were recruited by Job Trust to work in Greek hotels had been signing work agreements with the companies of this particular unknown Greek businessman for the past nine years. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ module_id=”1″ _builder_version=”4.4.1″ background_color=”#ffffff” vertical_offset_tablet=”0″ horizontal_offset_tablet=”0″ min_height=”175px” height=”170px” custom_margin=”||-253px||false|false” custom_padding=”232px||0px||false|false” z_index_tablet=”0″ box_shadow_horizontal_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_tablet=”0px”][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ module_id=”2″ _builder_version=”4.4.1″ vertical_offset_tablet=”0″ horizontal_offset_tablet=”0″ z_index_tablet=”0″ box_shadow_horizontal_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_tablet=”0px”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.1″ custom_padding=”30px|||||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.1″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ min_height=”94px” custom_margin=”-17px|||||” custom_padding=”0px|||||” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
The web of Bulgarian companies and the empty offices<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ custom_padding=”||22px|||” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
Driving up Ruse Boulevard in the town of Pleven, in northeastern Bulgaria, we arrived at a tall, rusty soviet-style apartment bloc. It takes a while to track down the exact location for STAFF Company\u2019s registered address. At number 87, building B, the dark and damp corridors lead up to apartment 6, where there is no sign whatsoever of a staffing firm. A plate on the black wooden door warns that the flat is guarded by dogs – a fact that a ring at the bell quickly confirms. However no one arrives to open the door, and the company\u2019s letterbox seems empty as well. It is quickly made clear that if the company had an actual operating office, it wasn\u2019t there. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”10607,10601,10609,10603″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ text_orientation=”center” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” border_color_all=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” box_shadow_style=”preset6″ box_shadow_blur=”6px”][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ custom_padding=”||25px|||” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nAccording to the Bulgarian Commercial Register, this is the building housing the offices of STAFF Company in the town of Pleven.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n<\/em><\/p>\nThe same becomes evident as we visit the registered addresses of the other companies that Savvidis has established in locations all over Bulgaria: Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Pleven, and even the remote village of Malka Cherkovna in northeastern Bulgaria, where STAFF Company<\/strong> was first set up in 2017, at a time when, according to that year\u2019s Bulgarian census, the village was inhabited by only 13 people. Apart from an old plastic board for \u201cJob Trust\u201d that is left hanging on the wall overhead a travel agency in the town of Plovdiv, promoting the website of the Greek recruiting agency and some non-operative company telephone numbers, in Bulgaria we came across nothing but letterboxes and non-existent offices.\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”9732,9734″ posts_number=”2″ show_title_and_caption=”off” show_pagination=”off” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” text_orientation=”center” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” locked=”off”][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ custom_padding=”||19px|||” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
<\/span>A sign advertising Job Trust in the town of Plovdiv.<\/p>\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
Savvidis\u2019 companies, which carry similar sounding names with Job Trust and STAFF –Job Trust Career, Job Trust Training, Job Trust Company, Job Trust Ltd., Staff Career, Staff Training<\/i><\/b> <\/i>– were one after the other registered over a course of seven years, usually demonstrating peak activity during one particular tourist season and then slowly bowing out, each giving way to the next company.\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/miir.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TIMELINE-page-001.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” min_height=”591px” height=”594px” max_height=”1000px” box_shadow_style=”preset2″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ custom_padding=”||12px|||” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
Job Trust’s trails in Bulgaria<\/p>\n<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
As public records of social insurance contributions show, over the course of ten years, Savvidis\u2019 Bulgarian-based companies went on to hire more than two thousand employees.\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\nAccording to the Bulgarian Commercial Register, STAFF company\u2019s activity to this day includes \u201ccommercial representation and intermediation; brokering transactions, transportation agreements, hotel, tourist and advertising services; information services and other services\u201d. It is this activity that was likewise undertaken by all of the previously established companies. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”10497,10495,10493″ posts_number=”3″ orientation=”portrait” show_title_and_caption=”off” show_pagination=”off” _builder_version=”4.4.1″ background_color=”rgba(198,198,198,0.11)” module_alignment=”center” custom_padding=”|||0px|false|false” locked=”off”][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.1″ locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
The tables above show the official number of registered employees
insured in the companies between 2011-2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
In fact, the only indication that any of these enterprises might actually still be operating, were the offices of \u201cOmega<\/b>\u201d, the accounting firm that stands as a point of official contact with STAFF Company<\/strong> and Job Trust Training<\/b>. According to the Bulgarian commercial register \u201cOmega\u201d belongs to a Bulgarian national named Yordanka Dimitrova Georgieva, who for a short period of time in 2017, had also assumed management responsibilities for Job Trust Training. During her time at the helm, that company went on to sign on as many as 331 employees (July 2017). <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span>We tried to reach Ms. Georgieva along with Bulgarian investigative journalist Stanimir Vaglenov at the end of October 2019, at her office and home address, to find out more about the companies and her role as manager. She, however, was notified of our visit and took out a restraining order that prohibits our Bulgarian colleague from contacting her again.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
“Company cemeteries”<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\nIn contrast with Greece, Alexandros Savvidis appears to have taken a more active role in Bulgaria, even participating himself in 2015 at a presentation for the students from the \u201cDimitar A. Tsenov\u201d University of Sofia, to discuss \u201cthe opportunities for work in the best hotels and student internships in the field of the servicing sector in Greece\u201d. In a press release about the event on the private university\u2019s webpage, Savvidis is credited as the \u201cowner\u201d of Greek-based Job Trust, which, according to the same article, at that time collaborated \u201cwith about 130 universities specializing in tourism training from more than 15 countries such as: Bulgaria,\u00a0Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Poland, C<\/span>