Bulgarians are driven to Spain, share a single densely packed grotty room and work long hours only to see their dream job turning into a nightmare.

The hard times are far from over for European workers, especially if they come from an Eastern European country like Bulgaria and even if they are employed via the country’s Labor Bureau, local media reports have alerted.

E. Yoveva from the southern city of Blagoevgrad knows that best, Standard daily wrote.
The middle-aged woman was attracted by the prospect of earning 35-36 euros per day for six hours of work as a fruit-picker in the Spanish town of Moguer.

But two weeks on, she felt abused like a slave and glad just to have enough euros to get out of Spain and return to Bulgaria.

The Spanish employer, identified as Garcia Fernandez, wanted her and the other three Bulgarians to work only 3-4 hours per day.

"In fact we earned no more than 20 euros per day. The employer treated us like slave – he shouted at us, insulted us, we were stressed out all day long. We were not allowed to waste a minute while we're on the field. The water was taken from a nearby pump, it was dirty and I got skin sores. Men and women were accommodated together, a dozen people used one and the same toilet.”

Under the signed contract the Bulgarian workers were allowed to spend one day per week at the nearest town, but that did not happen either.

Yoveva concedes the Spanish employer gave her the whole sum of 253 euros he owed her, but she was quick to buy a bus ticket and head back home.

“True, he paid me everything he had to for the work he gave me. But this makes no sense for me – I spent 255 euros to go Spain and return and this is just all the money I earned on the farm,” the woman said.

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